


Holiday Dysfunction

by theprodigypenguin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Antipodean Opaleye, Anxiety, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Graduation, Happy Christmas, Harry Potter Next Generation, Herbology, Hogwarts, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Magizoology (Harry Potter), Meh, Merry Christmas, Mpreg, No Smut, PTSD, Scorbus, Triggers, implied suicidal thoughts, lovechild au, post seventh year, romania - Freeform, scorbus love child, self hate, star signs, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-09-28 02:26:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17174102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprodigypenguin/pseuds/theprodigypenguin
Summary: People say that if you have a confession to tell, the best thing to do would be to simply rip it off like a Band-aid, but for Albus that metaphorical Band-aid has been stuck in place for the past six years, and it's hard enough talking to your dad when he happens to be Harry Potter, so it makes things a little more complicated when you're also in love and married to the son of your father's former school rival and ex-death-eater. Throw a new kid into the blend and the Holiday Season just gets more festive.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Only recently managed to read TCC play and I honestly unironically enjoyed it. Yes there was a lot I didn't enjoy, like Rose (and where was Teddy excuse me), but in all it was a pretty entertaining read, and I fell face first into the Scorbus bandwagon. Idk how I feel about this fic but I had enough fun I suppose. It's my first fic with Scorpius and Albus so I'm still getting into the feel of their characters but I love them too much and just had to write something, and I really want to write more.
> 
> Just a quick FYI, this fic takes place between 4 to 6 years AFTER Scorpius and Albus have graduated Hogwarts, and are currently following their careers, which are personal headcanons of mine that I developed after reading the play. Albus is a magizoologist and Scorpius is an herbologist and doctor. They're currently living in Romania so Albus can study with Charlie.
> 
> A warning for some, there is IMPLIED mpreg. I wrote it in a way that you could probably get away with believing the child was adopted (maybe someone at the hospital died and left a child idk), but I implied mpreg as well because magic exists so why the hell not? Plus the drama seemed fun.
> 
> Triggers to be aware of: implied suicidal thoughts, mention of self hate, bad father-son relationships, PTSD, anxiety.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy the fic!
> 
> (formerly titled "Orion" but i decided to change the kid's name)

Albus didn't hate Christmas. Not really. He could sit down and remember hours of happy memories tied to it, tied to snow filled fields, white topped roofs and decorating Christmas trees that would take up the majority of his living room. There was always a short bit of argument between the adults, of where they would hold Christmas dinner, where the entire family would converge, but it wasn't much of an argument, since they always ended at the decision to hold dinner at the Burrow.

Christmas Eve was spent at home, where Albus' parents would sit he and his siblings down and have a pre-Christmas of their own, tearing into presents and enjoying each other's company. Often times Hermione, Ron, Hugo, and Rose would join them for their eve celebration. Albus never really understood it when he was younger, but he did now, in some sense. That his father wanted to give his children everything he never had, including special time just with he and Ginny. Special time spent just with his parents.

Just in case, maybe?

The next morning, the Potter and Granger-Weasley families would converge and floo or apparate to the old Weasley Burrow, where their Gran was busy cooking a Christmas feast while their extended family continued to filter into the house until that night.

Years of memories filled with Christmas day spent with cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, grandparents, and family friends. Neville came every year after his grandmother died, though he tended to leave early, as to spend some of the day with his parents at St. Mungo's. Luna and Rolf Scamander started to join them after their twins were born, staying part of the day before leaving to spend the rest of the time with Rolf's family. Andromeda Tonks and her grandson Teddy were there every year, without fail, and stayed the entire time.

It was Lily's favorite day of the year, extroverted and energetic as she was, her favorite thing was being around her cousins, all of whom she absolutely adored. James was always excited to spend extra time with Teddy and with the oldest of their cousins, talking about school and the future and throwing Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans at each other until someone told them to stop.

Albus liked the snow, maybe because it was easy to get lost in it when he walked outside to get away from the crowd that made the Burrow seem even smaller than it was. The snow storms would sometimes make it impossible to see much more than a few feet in front of you, and that was just fine. He liked how he didn't have to go far to hide from the chaos inside. Too many people, too many voices, too many Gryffindors.

A stupid part of his brain was always whispering that the adults were talking about him, discussing with Harry in a hushed tone how sympathetic they were about what a mess he'd turned out to be. Albus wasn't stupid, he knew those thoughts were ridiculous, and he knew they weren't true, but sometimes it was hard to ignore that stupid voice. Even when surrounded by family that loved him, sometimes he felt alone, strangled, unable to breathe.

He didn't hate Christmas. Mostly he just hated himself.

It was in his fifth year when Christmas became not so lonely, when Teddy Lupin and his grandmother hassled Draco and Scorpius Malfoy into joining the extended celebration. It made sense that they would be included finally, especially by Teddy. He spent the holidays mostly with the Potter's because Harry was his godfather, but he was Draco's cousin by blood, so sometimes Albus silently wondered why he didn't join them instead. Merlin knew he had to be lonely now, especially after Astoria's death.

Albus knew for a fact Scorpius was lonely.

At fifteen, though it took way too long in his opinion, Teddy finally managed to convince his reclusive cousin into joining everyone at the Burrow. Albus was thrilled, no surprise there, to see Scorpius standing awkwardly between his father and Teddy, still wearing his coat and speckled with a dusting of snow flakes from outside, bits of it caught in his hair, so light that it practically blended in, besides the occasional glitter when the light caught the drops, making it appear as if crystals were strung through his hair.

Scorpius was anxious, but willing, to join everyone, sticking close to Albus as if for confirmation that being there was okay, that he was really welcome to join he and all of the other kids crouching around a coffee table playing a muggle card game that Fred had bewitched into spitting glitter if you picked up a good card. By the end of it Scorpius was covered in glitter and laughing, and Albus didn't even care that he could practically taste the brand of sparkles from the joke shop.

Poor Draco was more tense than his son, clearly uncomfortable, but people were gratefully willing to talk to him. Andromeda was kind, Luna essentially tricked him into conversation, it was entertaining to watch them get into deep discussions about Luna and Rolf's work, seeming to especially enjoy talking to Rolf and Neville about Alchemy, Herbology, and Magizoology.

For the next three years the Malfoy's joined everyone at the Burrow for Christmas. Albus recalled only one time when Hermione suggested Draco invite everyone to Malfoy Manor next year, since it was much bigger and would fit everyone easier. She probably offered it as a joke, but the smile Draco gave her was somewhat strained.

"Christmas feels nicer here."

That sounded odd, until Scorpius translated for Albus in a soft voice, "Dad doesn't like spending Christmas where mom died. It makes things sadder. For both of us."

The last three Christmas holidays before graduating Hogwarts were some of the best, though there were moments Albus still felt strained. Things were better when Scorpius was there. Things were actually amazing when Scorpius was there, and after starting to date halfway through their sixth year, holidays just got better.

A secret relationship, for a while, that they kept from their families and laughed about when no one was looking. For a long time they found some form of excitement from hiding it from their parents, from stealing kisses under mistletoe when everyone was turned away and brushing hands under the table at dinner. After a year, though, the secret became somewhat stale.

Albus had no arguments about telling Draco. That wasn't to say he wasn't absolutely mortified, because Draco Malfoy was not the cheery bundle of sunshine that Scorpius was, and anyone with eyes could see how protecting he was of his son. Albus was almost petrified at the idea of getting obliviated when they told him, and was pleasantly surprised when Draco just smiled and supported them.

That was the end of the easy confessions though. Albus wasn't ready to tell his parents, and Scorpius didn't push him. It wasn't exactly a fear of being disowned, Albus figured if Harry wanted to do that then it would have happened already. He knew, of course, both his mother and father would love and support him no matter what he chose or who he dated, and though James would probably tease him for a bit, both his siblings would probably accept him as well.

No, what Albus was scared of in the end, was losing Scorpius. What if he revealed that he was in love only for his father to adamantly deny their relationship? It could have been anyone, so why Scorpius? He didn't care if Albus dated a man, but couldn't it have been a different man? A fear of losing Scorpius, maybe a ridiculous and unfound fear, kept him silent and tight lipped for the remainder of his school days.

Every time he gained a bit of courage and tried to tell his parents, he got cold feet, his hands clammed up, he remembered things he didn't want to remember, and would burst out laughing purely from anxiety, then hide in his bedroom. He wasn't a brave person, he told himself. He was scared, impulsive, he wasn't brave. He certainly wasn't brave enough for this.

Nearly his entire time at school Albus had no idea what he wanted to do with himself and his life, and looked at his seventh year with distaste and a terrifying loss of general emotion. He wasn't excited to graduate, figuring he'd probably end up living at home till he died or got kicked out. It was during fifth year he finally decided he wanted to actually do something, to dedicate his life to a career he might love.

It was decided at Christmas through a letter from his Uncle Charlie in Romania, that as soon as he graduated he'd move there to study dragons and work with other magical beasts, working towards an experienced career in Magizoology. Convincing Ginny and Harry was easy enough, though both were quite obviously nervous for him. Convincing Draco to let Scorpius move with him was, on the other hand, fun.

While Albus would study the magical beasts roaming the reservation, Scorpius would study Herbology and the medical purposes of some of those animals. Both would work to further their lives and careers while also staying together, which was something both of them wanted; something they absolutely needed.

The day they left, the day Albus hugged Lily goodbye before turning to his mother, then his father, hugging him a bit lighter than he had his sister, he was still tight lipped. He opened his mouth to tell them, then laughed at himself. He shook Draco Malfoy's hand, promising in a quiet voice only the two of them could hear that he'd keep an eye on Scorpius, that they'd write, and that Draco could visit any time. Then they left for a new life.

A few years passed, Albus found himself so busy he was barely able to get away and visit home for Lily's graduation, returning to Romania immediately after he'd congratulated her and embraced her tightly, so tightly she looked genuinely shocked, then gave her an eight week old kneazle with a bow tied around her tiny neck as a gift, because there were dozens where he was living. Lily of course insisted he stay, but relented in his immediate departure when he confessed there were other baby kneazles he had to keep an eye on, and a pregnant unicorn about to drop a foal that Charlie said he needed to be there for.

He came home and left in the blink of an eye and it made his parents dizzy, left with only their daughter snuggling a tiny spotted cat-like creature that seemed absolutely enchanted with her red hair and giggles.

They didn't see Albus after that, buried in work with Charlie, with dragons and with other magical beasts. Every Christmas season Ginny would write to him "hope to see you home this year", but the letter would get lost in paper work or forgotten on the table. Sometimes Albus would read them and just frown, because somehow the idea of going home felt terrifying to him.

Ginny and Harry still didn't know after all, that he was dating Scorpius Malfoy. A few months later they didn't know they'd gotten married. The more secrets piled up, the worse Albus felt, the more he feared they would be mad at him for not telling them sooner.

"I'll tell them tomorrow" eventually turned into "It's basically too late to tell them at all."

What else would they be mad about? Maybe the fact Albus ignored Christmas letters from home to instead accept Draco into their house every year, celebrating a three person Christmas with a crooked tree and small magical creatures that had taken the residence as theirs. He and Scorpius lived alongside beasts and celebrated Christmas with one of the people his father used to despise, and just thinking about it made Albus feel sick.

He loved his family, but he loved Scorpius too, and he was scared that his father, out of everyone, just wouldn't understand that, and how important it was.

Even Draco tried to calm him down about his fears, but Albus would just blow him off by bringing up the latest endeavor with his uncle and their dragons.

Albus tried to ignore it, the looming truth that he would have to, eventually, tell Harry and Ginny that he was legally married to Scorpius now, by burying himself in work with the animals that he was starting to grow more and more attached to. There were times he even thought that he might be able to get away with this forever. He could live in Romania forever with just Scorpius, still married and utterly in love, his father-in-law visiting every few months and every Christmas, surround himself with dragons and magical beasts and further his research, maybe travel to find other species and research the medicinal properties of those beasts with Scorpius.

Things get a little more complicated, though, when you have a kid. It wasn't just impossible to keep this from Harry, it wasn't fair to him, and to his mother, to his siblings and the rest of his family.

Albus was independent now, he and Scorpius were both working and saving money, supporting themselves and each other, and Draco was entirely supportive of them, so if anything happened they could just move into Malfoy Manor and continue their work from there. He had nothing to be afraid of anymore, aside from his parents getting angry at him for hiding this from them for years. He had nothing to be afraid of, yet he still was, and it was absolute torture to write his mother a letter without his shaking coming through in his handwriting.

"I really am a damn awful son, aren't I?" he asked, elbows on his knees and hands folded tightly as he sat at one end of their couch in front of a fire that had been burning nonstop for the past year and a half, a single salamander slithering up the stones, not wandering far from the flames that bore him.

"That's not fair to say," Scorpius argued from behind him, somewhere in the kitchen, either clearing books from the table or finishing a tonic for his research, "It's a little true, but you don't need to say it out loud."

"Thank you," Albus dropped his head, "You are the embodiment of gentleness."

"Hey, you asked," Scorpius argued, bottling the tonic before stowing it into a cupboard and locking it, then walking over to the couch, sitting down in a chair beside it and leaning forward, "Look, it's not too late, and they might be a little upset you didn't tell them immediately, but despite everything, both of them love you," he reached over to hold Albus' chin, lifting it so their eyes could meet, "You invited them here for Christmas, the first one you'll be spending with them in a long time. That's a start."

"That's terrifying, Scorpius."

"The only people coming are your parents, James, Lily, and my dad, and dad already has your back on this. I know Lily is going to be willing to take our side too. Not sure about James, and your mom might take a minute. Your dad is going to be difficult."

"Really? I never would have considered that to be even a remote possibility."

"Albus."

"My dad? Difficult? Ridiculous."

"Al."

"This is the year I die, Scorpius, we had a nice run, I'll love you in the afterlife."

It was dark humor but Scorpius still smiled in a way that made Albus think he'd actually told a good joke. It gave him a bit of hope, a bit of rare courage, reaching up to take Scorpius by the hand and squeezing his fingers, dropping his head against the backs of them. He could feel the chill of the wedding band around his ring finger, and took a bit of comfort from that as well.

"I really do love you, even if you are a complete geek, and leave books in the bed, and fall asleep with the light on."

"And I love you, even though you keep bringing baby dragons into the bed, making me wake up with talons and tails in my mouth."

"They're orphans, Scorpius, they need body warmth and a mom."

"Why does that have to be me?"

"Scorpius please, I'm their mom," Albus said, lifting his head to give Scorpius a false expression of insult that had him laughing.

His laughter was enough to lift Albus' spirits, but also seemed to be loud enough to wake up the beast that was sleeping upstairs, the house filling with a wail scarier than anything Albus had heard before from any creature he'd worked with.

"Whoops."

"I'll get him," Scorpius said, both standing.

"Part of me was hoping he'd sleep through Christmas."

"I don't think anything is going to be that easy from now on."

"Right," Albus stepped over to the fireplace while Scorpius hiked up the stairs, throwing in a log and watching the red skinned salamander scamper along the rocks of the chimney as sparks shot up the floo.

"Do you remember what time your mom said they were going to show up?" Scorpius called down the narrow staircase, and Albus leaned back on his heels.

"Noon! Draco is supposed to get here before them. He said he wanted to be here to hype me up or something!"

"Because he knows you're scared," Scorpius reappeared on the bottom step, holding an six month old infant boy propped against his hip, little hand in a fist clinging to the tail of a dragon plushie and wrapped in a green and gold blanket with the initials OAM stitched into the bottom of it.

"I'm not scared," Albus argued, shuffling up to him, "I'm... anxious, but I can promise there are loads more things to be scared of. Like this one."

Scorpius smiled brightly and carefully handed over the baby, who seemed to protest the change by waving his fists in distress, lifting the dragon toy up to gnaw on the tail as he settled against Albus.

"He's not that scary," Scorpius decided, reaching out to rub at his little cheek, "Though something tells me you're scared of something else. Not him, exactly."

Albus just frowned, somehow unable to look away from the infant in his arms; not wanting to. His eyes were like Scorpius', a pale gray-green, and the hair on his head was dark, tufts on the sides paler than the rest. He was small enough to fit easily in the crook of Albus' arm, warm, and he wiggled a lot, excited to get moving despite being unable to walk yet. Albus had dealt with baby animals before but this, this was different.

"I feel like there are a million ways I could mess up, you know?" he admitted, "It's not like either of us were ready for this, and my dad isn't terrible, but I feel like some of the things he did wrong are going to be the same things I get wrong."

"Like what?" Scorpius pushed him to continue, hands on Albus' elbows as he stared down at their baby boy.

"I don't know... not listening to him when he gets older. Not knowing how to deal with him when he starts getting rebellious. I might get frustrated and yell, say something I don't mean and wreck our relationship," he paused, decided not to look at Scorpius, "I really love my dad, but sometimes it's just so hard to be his son, and I don't want ours to feel the way I felt. Like he can't talk to me. Like he's a disappointment. Like I hate him for some reason."

"Is that all?" Scorpius asked in a teasing tone, though when Albus looked at him he could clearly see how concerned his was.

Scorpius was easy to read like that. He didn't hide his emotions, and he didn't hide from them. If he was scared, he would say something, Albus knew when he was happy and he knew when he was sad, because Scorpius wasn't afraid to tell him if something was wrong.

"I'm going to promise now if this kid is anything like me I'm going to lose my mind. Not that I'll give up, knowing how stubborn I am, but if he's just as stubborn it'll just be another case of miscommunication like with me and my dad, and you know how that turned out, with me waiting until I was married with a kid to even consider telling him I got married and had a kid."

Scorpius sighed a little, reaching up to hold Albus' face, "Everything will be fine."

"I'm just praying this kid is like you, and that I'll be a good enough father like Draco was to you."

"He and I had our own set of differences."

"But you're not afraid to talk to him, are you?"

Scorpius shifted his eyes down, "No."

"That's all I want," Albus decided, "I want to be a good enough father that he's never scared to talk to me, or tell me things. I want to raise him so he's not afraid to tell us when he's scared or hurting. I don't want to mess up and turn into a bad father!"

Scorpius rubbed at their son's cheek again, smiling as his eyes closed and his nose scrunched up, "You still love your dad though, and it may have taken you a few years of healing, of not even talking to him, but you're willing to try and bring him back into your life now, so he can be part of his grandson's," he nodded down at their baby, and Albus hummed.

"And for all we know it could go so bad they leave before I have a chance to fully explain myself. You know how he is, what if he just blames everything on me? A lot of it is my fault because it was my decision to cut him off for a while, but he's got to realize he messed something up if I actually did that, right? Or maybe perfect Harry Potter will be blinded by his son defying him and just get angry and refuse to see he played a part in this as much as I did."

"Albus he might not have even realized you cut him off," Scorpius admitted, following his husband back over to the couch, "You didn't send letters, insisted Charlie not talk about you, bribed him in fact-."

"You have no proof I did that."

"-but you always insisted you were busy, and you have been really busy. Your dad knows a thing or two about being overworked, maybe he'll just assume that's why you didn't keep touch."

"And what kind of liar would I be if I let him believe that?" Albus sat back on the couch, propping his son up on his lap with his little back against his chest, idly pulling the blanket further around him as he waved the dragon and made a cooing noise when he seemed to notice the salamander on the fireplace, "Is it healthy, mentally, if I just tell him I was busy and overworked? Or should I tell he and mom the truth, that I purposely cut dad off because I was slowly realizing I wanted to die and needed some time to myself, alone, without them, to heal, and figure out who in hogs hell I was supposed to be, because being around my own father just made me hate myself more?"

"... I don't know," Scorpius admitted softly, "Getting that out in the open, getting closure, making peace with him, would be best, that's what I think, but I also think it's going to be hard for him to come to terms with it. It would probably be hard for every parent to admit they may have made lasting mistakes. Go easy on him."

Albus nodded in agreement, "I guess he kind of deserves it," he decided, playing with the soft black hair on top of his son's head, "considering all he's been through."

"Right. It's doesn't excuse his mistakes, but it does make it easier to understand them," Scorpius leaned forward to smile back at Albus, "Just remember, he can't take me away from you anymore. You don't have to choose between us."

"Yes, sir," Albus grinned, looking at the door when someone knocked.

The bit of confidence he'd felt just moments before fled him, and he seemed stuck to the couch as Scorpius got to his feet and walked around the couch to open the door. A feeling of relief fell over Albus when he saw it was just Draco standing on the porch, smiling taking to his lips when he saw Scorpius.

"Am I late?"

"Early!" Albus assured as he got up off the couch to join Scorpius, "Always early, thank Merlin! Did you have a good trip here?"

"Decided to just apparate," Draco said, stepping into the house so Scorpius could shut the door against the cold air outside, "Scorpius mentioned you both wanted me here before Harry showed up, so I came as soon as I could. My bags will get here this evening."

He hugged Scorpius when he'd finished, then turned to Albus and the boy in his arms, his smile getting bigger when the baby started to giggle. He knew Draco by now, of course, considering how often he visited. He was the first to know they had a kid, and stopped by a week after he was born, staying two full months to help Albus and Scorpius get used to being parents before he had to go home for personal business. He visited at least one week every month after that, to babysit when Albus and Scorpius had to leave for work.

Albus happily transferred the six month old to his grandfather, who propped him up and didn't even react when a tiny fist grabbed at his long hair. Entirely used to it by now, evidently Scorpius did the same thing when he was a baby.

"I still think his name is absolutely terrible," Draco noted, running his thumb along the initials stitched into the blanket, "Osiris Astor Malfoy. You couldn't have given him a different name?"

"You named your son Scorpius Hyperion and you think Osiris is a bad name?" Albus tested, and Scorpius frowned at him.

"What's wrong with my name, Albus Severus?"

"Point taken," Albus looked back at his son, "At least none of us are cursed with the name Draco Lucius. Oh wait!"

"I don't appreciate the call out here," Draco warned, though he had a half smile on his lips that only got bigger when Scorpius grabbed his arm.

"He started crawling the other day! I think he's starting to teeth, too!"

"Oh yea he's a fast guy," Albus said following Scorpius back to the couch, where he set Osiris down in the middle of the carpet.

The coffee table had been pushed against the right wall, where a small four foot tree was sitting on top, decorated in lights, ribbons, and ornaments. Some had been hand made by the younger patients at the hospital where Scorpius worked on weekends, they'd picked up a few in the nearby muggle town, and some had been brought from home or gifted to them by Draco in the past few years they'd celebrated. It was a simple tree, lifted off the ground to keep Osiris from messing with it, a few carefully wrapped packages sitting underneath it.

Before now the gift exchange had been fairly simple. Albus would get something for his uncle Charlie, for Scorpius and Draco, Scorpius had fun shopping for the few doctors he worked and researched with, picking up gifts even for the other people Albus worked with, for Charlie, Draco, and for Albus. Draco brought gifts for them, always something they needed, like new silverware, dishes, pots and pans, sheets, blankets, new ornaments, books for Scorpius. He was a practical man who didn't normally indulge in gifts, but this would be his grandson's first Christmas. All of them had gotten extra gifts for him, and they'd picked up a few things for Harry, Ginny, James, and Lily. There were a few more stockings hanging on the mantle now, the salamander kept crawling over the bright red and orange one Albus had picked up for James.

Draco and Scorpius knelt on the carpet as Osiris wiggled around on his belly, blanket tangled around his legs and giggling as they both tried to urge him to move towards them. Albus sat on the couch and just laughed as he held a camera up to document the moment when Osiris managed to wiggle his way onto his hands and knees, making his clumsy way straight to Scorpius, who praised him and cradled him, kissing his dark fringe of hair.

They stayed on the ground with Osiris for a while, Albus joined them after taking a few more pictures, and Draco took the camera to capture a few of the moments with Albus in them, but after a while playing the clock on the wall started ticking closer to noon, and they stood up to finish getting the house ready for more guests.

Their house was essentially a smaller scaled version of the Burrow, appearing to be like a shack from the outside, two crooked but remarkably sturdy stories high and lined with three large, great black oak trees with big trunk and twisting branches that seemed to compliment the shape of the house and supported the structure.

The first floor was taken up by the kitchen, small dining area, and living room, and the stairs lead up to four bedrooms, a bathroom, and an attic that opened up to the twisted branches of the oak trees where Albus did a lot of his work. An additional door in the kitchen lead out into a greenhouse and attached shack, and a door next to the stairs lead into the ground, where the house had been built lower to add extra rooms and storage space underneath the initial foundation.

The interior had been decorated with tinsel and streamers, mistletoe hanging at each door frame, and the fire managed to heat the entire top two floors of the building. A second fireplace in the lower floor of the house would have to be lit later on for when James and Lily took up in the room, Albus was pretty certain they'll want to be down there.

Every room had been furnished and fixed with beds and sheets. One room had been locked off, Osiris' nursery, since it was still being finished, and he was currently sharing a room with Albus and Scorpius at Albus' insistence. Scorpius though he may have been acting a little paranoid, but Albus just shrugged at that.

They let Draco take Osiris as Scorpius started preparing that nights dinner and Albus finished some last minute touches in the guest bedrooms.

"I love magic sometimes," he revealed as he came back down the stairs, "Your bags are in your room. Charmed here or something."

"Good," Draco said from one of the chairs around the table, bouncing Osiris on his knee as the six month old clung to his fingers and the rings decorating them, seemingly fascinated with the bright green gems and runes carved into them.

"Almost noon," Scorpius warned, and Albus paused halfway to the door, staring at the clock before nodding.

"Yea, that is what that clock says," he paused again, turned, and continued over to the door, pulling a cloak down from where it was hanging, "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll get lost, or be so late Osiris is already grown up and out of the house and we've been dead for fifteen years at least."

"Where are you going?" Scorpius asked as Albus secured the cloak.

"Uncle said it was going to snow later, we're in the mountains so we're getting the worst of it, I'm going to make sure the Opaleye eggs at the base of the mountain are safe from it."

"Don't be too long, you get distracted when it comes to dragons."

"I'll be ten minutes, tops," Albus said, going over to Draco when Osiris started to fuss and leaning down to plant a kiss on his little cheek, causing the baby to erupt into giggles.

Already the snow had fallen, a food few inches layering the ground perfectly. Their crooked little house was the only one in the little field, built originally by the first Magizoologist who settled down there to research the Opaleye dragons they'd brought to Romania. It was a horrible change of weather for the creatures used to the warmer climates of Australia and New Zealand, and normally they would try and send the dragons back if they came across smuggled Opaleye eggs, but it was harder to travel with dragons eggs during winter since it was so cold, so all they could do was keep them safe in a controlled heat environment.

In this case, a cave at the base of the mountain where the field sat that was heated by another dragon, a nearly fully grown Welsh Green that Charlie had been caring for since she was an egg. A smuggler had stolen her from her nest, and she'd come out of it blinded, but if she recognized scent she wouldn't react more than a low rumble. She was well behaved and uninterested in humans for the most part, so Charlie had brought her to Albus to help care for the eggs until the Spring when they could send the Opaleye eggs back to New Zealand.

The cave was warm, near humid, and Albus was almost tempted to take his cloak off, but it was still cold outside, so decided against it. The entrance to the cave certainly looked menacing, as the heat from inside would melt the snow that dripped off the top, only to freeze into sharp icicles that looked like teeth. Albus had to carefully maneuver under them to get into the cave, travelling a few yards to the back where the Welsh Green was curled up. She dragged her head along the floor until she was facing Albus with milky sightless eyes, and Albus hushed her as he held a hand above her nose, letting her recognize him before patting her head and walking around her to where the eggs were settled in a nest of leaves and clothes.

It had been a tip from Charlie, to wrap the eggs in some of Albus' robes, so that the hatchlings would recognize his scent and maybe not attack him if he ever came across them full grown. That "maybe" had Albus somewhat suspicious of Charlie's tip, but he did it nevertheless, figuring it wouldn't do much harm in the end.

"Afternoon children, mums here to check you all over," he greeted the five pearly, iridescent eggs, kneeling down to run a hand over the first, noting the warm, almost leathery texture, "It's going to be getting colder from here till Spring, so keep each other warm. You all seem healthy, your foster mom is taking good care of you it seems."

He lifted his head up when the Welsh Green started to give a low grumble, head lifted a few inches off the ground, nostrils flaring to take in scent and tail wrapping around the eggs, as well as Albus.

"Someone coming?" he asked, reaching over to pat her side, leaving the eggs to wander over to her head, wrapping one arm up around her head and scratching her chin to calm her down, staring over at the entrance to the cave, "I think I can guess who, it is noon. Take care of the eggs, don't worry too much. They're guests."

He gave her one last pat before striding towards the entrance to the cave, peering out through the icicles and towards the edge of the field where the barrier was, a protective charm that Charlie and the others cast over the field and the caves in the mountains to protect the dragons and other magical beasts that took residence there in Albus' side of the reservation.

He recognized them immediately even from the distance he was at, even though he hadn't seen them in a good few years. How long had it been? He moved right after he graduated at seventeen, returned two years later for Lily's graduation. How long had it been since then? How long since he completely cut his father off?

Albus took a breath in, swallowing the fear and guilt as he left the cave, apparating to his front door despite how close the house was from the cave. Draco was still sitting with Osiris when he walked in, shutting the door just enough to keep out the cold so he could warn the Malfoy's inside that the Potter's had shown up finally.

"I'm going to go meet them before they get to the house," Albus said, "I'm gonna... try to, you know... tell my dad before he sees Osiris," he looked down at his son, then at Scorpius, "So, uh... yea. Don't freak out."

"I think you might be the only one freaking out, Albus," Draco was the one to reveal, and Albus nodded as he turned.

"Fair point, sir."

He returned to the porch and shut the door to look across the field, feeling almost sorry that his parents had to trudge through the snow to reach the house. They didn't have much choice, apparating within the barrier was difficult enough if you were used to it, it had taken Albus years to perfect it himself. Protective barriers could be tricky.

They were certainly startled when Albus popped up beside them. James screamed and slipped on the snow and Lily laughed as Harry leaned on his knees and Ginny smacked Albus in the arm while Charlie laughed a bit louder than Lily was.

"Bloody hell, don't do that!" James yelled as he pushed himself back to his feet, smacking off snow, "How in hell did you apparate?!"

"Uncle said we weren't able to!" Lily added, and Charlie walked over to clap a hand on Albus' shoulder.

"Well he's used to the barrier here, he can do whatever spells he needs," he looked at Albus, who was giving a crooked grin, "How are the kids? Their foster mum giving any trouble?"

"All tucked in for winter, she's an absolute delight to have as a neighbor."

"What kids?" Ginny asked, and Albus saw black spots in his vision for a moment as Charlie answered.

"A couple Opaleye eggs, saved from some smugglers a few weeks back. The weather is tragic for them so we have to keep them wrapped up with a foster mother, Welsh Green as it were. Al here is taking care of them all till spring when it's warm enough to bring them back home where they belong," Albus nearly thanked his uncle for saving him at that, but ended up just nodding with a tight smile as Charlie squeezed his shoulder and stepped back, "Now your escort is here, I should be getting back."

"You're sure you can't stay?" Ginny asked, and Charlie reached out to hug her.

"'Fraid not sis, winter weather isn't the best for these leathery reptiles, we leave them too long they'll melt the whole mountainside and let it freeze to ice, which wouldn't be a nice sight," he reached out to shake Harry's hand before kissing Lily's head and turning, "Happy Christmas! Say hello to Scorpius for me!"

Albus lifted a hand in a halfhearted wave, "Will do."

Then he was alone with his parents and siblings, with family he hadn't seen, spoken to, or written to in a good few years. He continued to just watch Charlie walk off until he apparated away completely, exhaling and turning to meet his mother's eye. She certainly looked pained at seeing him, and excited, and sad, as she came up and hugged him tightly. A piece of Albus seemed to break off and he wrapped his arms around her in turn, burying his face against her shoulder.

"You've grown so much since we last saw you!" she exclaimed, stepping back and framing her hands on his face, "Let me look at you, sweetheart. What are these little scars on your face?"

"Dragons, mum, testy creatures, and I'm impulsive. They could be worse."

"Mate you're a mess!" James said, grabbing Albus by the shoulder, "Need a haircut, get you some glasses you'll look like dad!"

Albus nodded with a forced laugh, "Great, I definitely missed you."

"Did you miss me?" Lily asked, throwing herself at Albus for a hug, which he returned.

"Course I did."

"You never wrote me even once, Al!" she argued, pulling away after a moment, "It's been ages!"

"Been... busy," Albus said, sliding his hands into his pockets and slouching his shoulders in a shrug, looking over at the house, "What do you guys think?"

"Looks like the burrow," Harry said, "Smaller maybe."

"It's better inside," Albus assured, and James hugged himself with an exaggerated shiver.

"Well can we go in? Merlin's it's cold out here."

"Yea...," Albus nodded slowly, watching Lily and James start to trudge through the inches of snow towards the house, "and I'd recommend walking the whole way, apparating inside the barrier if you're not already used to it could get you stuck in a wall."

"Thanks mate, that sounds bloody terrifying!"

The corner of Albus' lips twitched into a smirk that fell when his mother slid her arm through his to hook their elbows together, "How have you been, Albus? We've been worried sick you know, not writing us or even visiting. You've been that busy?"

"Ah, I...," Albus looked up at the gray clouds as he and his parents followed after his siblings, "Something like that. I've had a lot going on, aside from research and work with uncle."

"Have you been working with just dragons?"

"Nope, other beasts as well," Albus answered, "I'm fond of a few African indigenous creatures. The Fwooper is a favorite of mine, nasty cry it's got though. I was thinking I might go down for the summer to do a few months research down there."

"That's even farther from home than Romania is," Ginny said, sounding somewhat shaken, "Darling I love that you're working, that you've found something you enjoy, and I certainly love that you're working with Charlie, but despite what you may think, we do miss you. Why not come visit home? Your aunt and uncle would love to see you, Rose and Hugo miss you dearly."

"Yea, they write sometimes," Albus agreed, looking down, feeling a bit worse when Harry spoke up.

"And you don't answer them either?"

Albus paused in his steps and hesitated, looking up to see James and Lily were only about halfway to the house. He turned to his parents, Ginny pulled her arm from his and gave Harry a somewhat scolding look as Albus cleared his throat and bowed his head.

"No," he answered simply, looking towards the house again, "Listen, there are... some things, that I need to tell you, before we go inside. A few things I haven't told you before, and yes I know I probably should have, but...," he trailed off, staring at the house.

"What is it, Albus?" Harry asked, pulling Albus' attention back, "You know you can tell us anything."

"Do I?" Albus asked, and Harry gave him a mildly shocked expression in response, "How do I say this...," he breathed, looking down and digging the toe of his boot into the snow, which had started to fall again, just a slow downward drift of specks.

The entire field was eerily silent, deathly so, Albus felt that even the sound of his breathing was completely cracking the barriers. It was terrifying. Hands still in his pockets, he played with the ring on his left hand, spinning it around and trying to fill his mind with the sound of Osiris laughing and Scorpius singing to try and get him to sleep. This was fine. This life he'd made for himself, no one could take it from him.

"So, it happened in sixth year," he started after a moment, "The reason I insisted Scorpius move here with me to research-."

"Oh, because you're dating?" Ginny asked out of nowhere, and Albus lifted his head to gape at her.

"E... excuse me?"

Ginny laughed a little, "That's why, isn't it? You started going out at sixteen and after graduation you moved with him."

Albus opened his mouth, looked at his dad, who gave a single shoulder shrug and nodded, "Ho... who told you that?"

"Told us?" Harry leaned forward, looking amused, "Albus we figured that out on our own."

"It was rather obvious," Ginny admitted, looking amused, though it faded to a look of pain, "Albus honey, is that what you were so scared to tell us?" she asked, "You've been keeping yourself too busy to even write us because you were scared of telling us you were dating your best friend?"

Albus just bowed his head, suddenly feeling utterly humiliated, shoulders shaking a bit, though not from the cold. He still had a lot to confess after all, and he gave a soft laugh out of anxiousness, shaking his head and looking at his mom.

"Got married, mum," he said, and Ginny's eyes widened, "Couple years now," he shrugged and shook his head, then dropped it again to stare at the ground, "Not sure why I never said anything anymore. Scared of losing him... scared of losing you, disappointing you. I don't know why anymore," he looked up again, "I cut you off because I wasn't brave enough to just face you both and tell you the truth. Maybe because of what happened with Delphini... dad separating us for that time," he shook his head again, "Maybe I was scared it would happen again."

"Albus that would never happen," Ginny said, somewhat stiffly, showing hurt and anger that Albus had been expecting, "Even if your father didn't like it, I'd never let him try to break you apart."

"I like to think I learned my lesson on that consequence," Harry promised, though he looked as shocked and hurt as Ginny did, "Married, son?"

Albus looked over at the house again, James and Lily were getting closer, and pulled his hand from his pocket, holding it up to show off the silver band set with green, "Yea," he said, and Ginny put a hand on her chest, "and that... isn't the only thing."

"Merlin, there's more?" Ginny asked, looking from the ring to his eyes, "What else have you been too scared to tell us, Albus?"

"Mum, look... I know you're mad at me, I'm ready for that, I know you're both probably furious, but... I just needed to figure myself out. That's a bloody terrible excuse and I know it, but I was not in a good place, and being here has helped me, and I am so sorry for not telling you anything. It wasn't fair to you to cut you off and keep you in the dark."

"Albus none of that is your fault," Harry said, stepping closer to set his hands on Albus' shoulders, squeezing them, "This is on us. Notably on me. It's my fault. You were so scared of me that you couldn't even tell us you were getting married, and that is a serious mark on me as a father. I'm the one who's sorry, son."

Albus swallowed down the thick emotion and nodded, clearing his throat as Ginny and Harry both hugged him. He still shook, told himself it was from the cold, told himself not to cry, as his parents pulled away and Ginny put a hand on his cheek with a smile as Harry squeezed his shoulder.

"What is it you wanted to tell us?" Ginny asked, and Albus cleared his throat again.

"You'll see," he said, starting for the house, "We should go before James and Lily freak out, I should probably tell them too."

"Oh they knew," Harry assured, "Lily knew first I think."

"Of course she did."

"Are you sure you don't want to tell us now, darling?" Ginny asked, and Albus laughed a little turning around to watch his parents as he walked backwards, grinning as he prepared to say something completely stupid.

"You'll see in a minute, grandma."

The words seemed to process in Ginny's mind before her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands. Harry just looked confused as he looked from Albus to his wife, then off to the side as if the expanse of snow would explain what his son just said. Albus just laughed again and turned, deciding then to apparate to his front door before his siblings burst in on Scorpius before he was ready, and hoping his family would like Osiris and get along with Draco without any problems.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey this was supposed to be a two-shot at most, looks like I'm bad at that, so this is now a short saga of fluff and angst.
> 
> Chapter warnings: implied suicidal thoughts, arguments, angst, pointless jealousy tbh.

Reactions to Osiris were more positive than Albus had expected. He'd been waiting for his mother to scold him, for James to start making quips about him being a dad and how ridiculous that concept was, or for Lily to take one look at the baby and ask if Albus was sure it was his. Instead, after stopping his brother and sister at the door and telling him basically the same thing he told their parents, nix the almost breaking down into tears, he let them walk into the house to meet their nephew.

Harry and Ginny took a bit longer to reach the house, so when they got there Scorpius was sitting on the armchair in front of the fireplace with Osiris sitting on his lap as Lily crouched in front of him and tried to get him to smile. Clearly the infant was confused, seeing new people for the first time in the six months he'd been alive. The only people he was used to seeing were his parents, Draco, and occasionally Charlie, so this was the first time he'd been introduced to so many new people at one time.

He kept looking over at Albus, who was standing next to the fireplace, then back at Lily, returning to his father in complete bafflement, like he was expecting an explanation as to who this woman was. The moment Albus had explained there was a kid inside, Lily had whipped out a pair of attachable antlers, which had come out of absolutely nowhere, but she had yanked them on completely excited. She thought it would make Osiris laugh, but Albus figured a person wearing antlers was just too unrealistic for Osiris.

His eyes found Albus as if to say, "Dad there's no way this is an animal what are you trying to pull?"

"Albus he's not smiling," Lily complained, pulling the antlers off.

"Give him a minute, this is the first time he's met you," Albus said, throwing another log into the fire, "You're unfamiliar to him."

"Not all babies are going to smile at you, Lily," James said, arms folded as he stood behind his sister, leaning forward a bit to stare down at Osiris, who looked at him with pretty much the same confused expression, "Make a funny face at him."

"But what if I scare him?"

"Don't make my kid cry," Albus warned, and James waved a hand at him before holding them both to his face.

He pushed at his cheeks and Osiris' lips finally cracked into a smile, giving a little breathy noise that could have been a laugh, shaking his fist with the dragon toy clutched in it.

"Ha! Points!" James claimed, crouching down beside Lily, "He's kind of cute I guess, in a creepy squishy way."

"Can I hold him?" Lily asked tentatively, and the smile Scorpius had been wearing got bigger.

"Yea, you know how?"

"Sure I do!" she stood up, holding her arms out as Scorpius got to his feet and carefully transferred Osiris to her.

He seemed immediately confused at it, hugging the dragon and wiggling around, craning his little neck trying to look back at Scorpius as Lily bounced softly on her feet, cooing to distract Osiris and attract his attention. Scorpius stayed in front of her so Osiris could look at him whenever he wanted to, not doing much more than wiggle in seeming distress as Lily tried to get him comfortable.

Around that time was when Harry and Ginny finally got to the house and stepped inside, just as the snow started to fall a little harder, shutting the door and shedding their coats. Ginny handed hers to Harry as she strode over to Lily, who immediately turned to meet her.

"Mum look! He's got to be the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

Albus couldn't quite tell what his mother was thinking as she stopped to look down at her grandson, who was now moving about quite a bit, kicking his little feet and craning his neck to try and look around Lily's arm to get a glimpse of one of his parents, though he did look at Ginny after a moment, the head of the dragon partway in his mouth, which curled in an obvious smile.

Ginny's eyes seemed to get brighter and she looked at Albus, "May I?" then looked at Scorpius, both of them nodding eagerly to allow her to take Osiris from Lily.

He gave a cooing giggle, and Albus started to relax. He liked Ginny, that was good. Seemed he was uncertain of Lily, but he would probably grow out of that with a bit of coaxing. No one could be uncomfortable around her for long after all, she really was a joy to have around. Albus had been expecting James to be less interested actually, but he seemed as curious about his nephew as Lily. Maybe because he made him laugh first and felt smug about it? Albus would be willing to bet on that.

With the three of them around Osiris and keeping him distracted, Scorpius took the chance to sneak around Lily and join Albus next to the fire, grinning at him before looking back at the small group cooing at the baby. So far so good, three of four were completely entranced, the the final hurdle was yet to come.

Harry was still standing by the door, both his and Ginny's dampened coats hanging on his arm, glasses slightly fogged at the edges from the change of being outside in the cold and coming inside to a heated room. He was watching Ginny, James, and Lily, but it seemed he was refusing to look at Albus. Not really a great sign, but Albus tried to ignore it but turning back to the fire, crouching down and grabbing a poker to stoke it as the salamander slithered down to investigate his movements.

After a long moment of watching them, Harry's eyes seemed to catch sight of Draco still sitting at the table, and turned to look at him somewhat blankly, "Malfoy."

"Potter," Draco greeted back, and Albus did not like the regression of addressing each other by their last names instead of their firsts, like they'd been doing before.

"How long have you been here?"

"Few hours, arrived this morning."

"First time... meeting him?"

Draco looked over at Ginny, met Albus' eye, then looked at Harry, "Strange, isn't it?"

Albus exhaled slowly and stood up as Harry hung up both the coats, "Did they write you?"

"Some," Draco admitted, glancing at Albus again.

By now Albus could read him well enough, and he was grateful for it. Draco had no intentions of rubbing in Harry's face that he'd been allowed into their lives the past few years while Harry had been blocked off. He was waiting for Albus to admit it, because it was Albus' responsibility.

"When's the last time you saw Scorpius?"

Harry was basically fishing now. He was suspicious of Draco and could tell there was something off about him being there, but Albus didn't want this to turn into a fight between them, so he broke into the conversation before Draco could answer.

"Last month," he answered, and Harry finally looked at him, "He stopped by to babysit while Scorpius was at the wizarding hospital in town and I was with Charlie getting the Opaleye eggs."

"Was he...?" Harry looked at Draco, who didn't meet his eye and just lifted up a mug of coffee that had been on the table beside him, taking a slow sip and staring at the fire.

"He stops by a lot," Albus explained, hands in his pockets, "At least once a month to help with Osiris. I'm home a lot since my work is nearby, but sometimes I have bigger projects to work on with uncle," he didn't really know why he was trying to justify himself as if that would help anything, Harry was going to be upset either way.

Albus could see the wheels working behind his father's green eyes, and somehow managed to keep eye contact despite how he felt like the floor was falling out from beneath his shoes. This was absolutely mortifying.

"How old is he?" Harry asked, and Scorpius answered from behind Albus.

"Six months."

"Why didn't you call us sooner?" James asked, breaking into the conversation, and Albus was honestly grateful for it, "I could've totally come to babysit."

"Me too!" Lily agreed.

"I thought you all had jobs?" Scorpius asked, like that would be a good enough reason to keep Osiris' existence from them entirely.

"And your father doesn't work as he's independently wealthy, so he has all the time in the world to do what he wants then," Harry noted in a flat tone, meeting Draco's warning gaze.

Scorpius had tensed up at his words, but Ginny turned with Osiris to scold him, "Don't be ridiculous, Harry, we should be grateful to Draco for being free to help. Scorpius is right, all of us work regularly, we don't have much time off, certainly not enough to visit frequently or regularly."

"I'm sure we could have worked something out if our son had bothered to tell us what was going on," Harry stated.

"Okay," Albus strode forward at that, and Ginny turned to him, letting him carefully pick Osiris out of her arms. His little face was twisting up, and he clung to Albus as he turned his back to Harry, letting Scorpius take their son, "I think it's nap time, this is a lot of excitement for him."

Scorpius nodded, cradling the back of Osiris' head and starting for the stairs, not even glancing back at Harry. Albus waited for him to disappear up the steps before turning, completely ignoring his mother and siblings and the clearly growing tension as he looked directly at his father.

"Do you want to say something, dad?"

"I don't think I'm the one who needs to," Harry argued, and Ginny looked between them.

"Let's not do this, everything was fine a minute ago. Harry we just got done with this."

"That was before," Harry argued, "Not telling us you're dating someone, fine, you needed time to work things out, and we knew anyway, but getting married and having a child without telling us? Just how irresponsible can you get? You're twenty-one, you're still a child yourself!"

"Is that what you want to yell at me for, or is there something else you're upset about?" Albus asked, "I kind of figured after this long you and Draco would have gotten past things."

"That's beside the point entirely."

"I don't think it is," Albus looked at Draco, "Do you mind? I think this is a Potter discussion, you shouldn't have to sit through it."

Draco lifted a single hand and set his cup down before standing, "I don't mind, Albus. I'll go help Scorpius."

He was barely at the stairs when Harry quipped, "So you kept your name when you got married?"

"Why? You want me to change it to Malfoy? I bet that would really twist you up, wouldn't it?"

"Albus," Ginny scolded, but Albus ignored her as Harry spoke again.

"What's your excuse? We would have been willing to come by, and don't just say you didn't want to pull us away from work. What's your excuse for not writing us? For completely cutting us out? We're your family, Albus."

"I figured that's what you were wanting to ask outside, but for the spirit of the holidays you were holding back, am I right?" Albus asked, "Might as well get it all out of the way since everything's as much a mess as I thought it would be."

"Well?"

"I don't think I would've wanted you around my son if you were just going to act like this," Albus stated, and Harry bristled, "I cut you out and I told you why, but I guess my explanation wasn't enough, was it? You want more?"

"You cut us out and let Draco Malfoy in instead?"

"I cut you out, I had no right to make Scorpius cut Draco out," Albus explained, "It isn't my place, and isn't necessary since they don't have the problems you and I have. Frankly it's been a joy having him over so often, and I appreciate the help with Osiris, since yes I am still young and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing as a father, thanks for the help on that one, dad."

"What did you just say to me?"

"I told him before we moved here that he was always welcome and he took full advantage of that to visit his son. No surprise there considering what Scorpius has been through, I wasn't expecting Draco to just let him go out of country without the ability to check on him whenever he started to worry. He came every holiday, once every month or two, every Christmas, we wrote him so he wouldn't worry too much about Scorpius, there really wasn't any way around it."

"You assume I wouldn't have worried about you?" Harry asked, he sounded almost disgusted, and Albus just scoffed.

"You've known where I was the entire time, if you're so confident you could have gotten time off to help with Osiris, why didn't you try and get that time to visit?"

"I figured you wouldn't want me showing up unannounced."

"Probably not, but it would have said a lot if you'd just shown up one day to check on me. Letters are all well and good, but I can't help noting mum, Lily, and James were the only ones writing. Odd, isn't it?"

"You never wrote either," Harry said, and Albus nodded.

"I wrote Draco."

"That is enough out of both of you!" Ginny broke in, stepping between Harry and Albus, who had unconsciously gotten closer during their argument and were now face to face, "The first time we get to see you and you just egg your father on like that? And you!" she turned to Harry, "It's Christmas, Harry, we haven't seen our son in four years, you couldn't learn to get along with Draco for a few days? You want to argue with Albus instead?! You don't have much choice in Draco being around anymore, he is family!"

Harry looked both appalled and ashamed, extremely sheepish under his wife's searing gaze. Albus felt as crappy he his father looked at getting scolded by his mother. She was right after all, there was no need to rub it in Harry's face for no reason other than to hurt him, to get back at him, and for what? Because Albus felt like he wasn't a good enough father and deserved to have his face hit with his former rival being better than him?

As it were, the fact Harry cared at all and was getting jealous proved he did want to be a good father. He wanted to be that person to Albus, but he wasn't, and that tore him up. Albus was dementedly gleeful and absolutely ashamed at himself for being so happy that his father was feeling guilty. He told himself he deserved to feel that way, to watch his son turn to someone else, but the thought of how Scorpius would scold him if he said that out loud made him feel sick.

Harry didn't deserve that, but Albus didn't either. It was all a mess, and the only way to fix it would be if he actually talked to Harry. Seeing as they couldn't go ten minutes without fighting, however, Albus was convinced that endeavor was hopeless. He knew if he really talked to his father, he would be guilty and upset, there was no way around that, but getting everything out without sounding condescending and bitter, that was the issue.

How were you supposed to tell your father you wanted to die sometimes without shoving the blame straight down their throat?

Albus wanted to leave the house, curl up with his Opaleye's for a few hours, but he didn't want to leave Scorpius and Osiris in the same house as his father. Which was upsetting on an entirely new level. That he was so terrified of his own father he worried he'd try to do something to his son. Harry would never do that, he wasn't evil. They had their differences, that didn't mean they were bad people.

"I'm going out for a bit," Albus walked towards the door, grabbing his cloak.

"Running away? You tend to do that a lot after an argument. Do you run when you have fights with Scorpius?"

"Harry!" Ginny's voice rose high enough to shake the tree, the fire crackled in the fireplace and the salamander shot under a loose brick to hide.

Albus said nothing, having paused with his hand on the doorknob at Harry's words that shot straight through his chest, throat tightening as he yanked open the door and walked out, slamming it shut and silently cursing at the loud bang, hoping he hadn't scared Osiris with it.

He pulled his cloak around his shoulders and secured the front of it as he stepped off the porch and into the blizzard that was slowly roaring louder and more violently, using his wand to clear a path towards the Opaleye cave as pathetic tears froze against his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I write I find myself wanting to delve deeper into Albus' issues and his differences with Harry. I actually relate to his character a lot, the moodiness and the self doubt shown in the play. Just using basic empathy and psychology you could go super deep into the problems he has as a kid, and problems that will stay with him as he gets older. Even if parents don't mean it, sometimes the things they do will traumatize and stay with their child. You can love your son or daughter to the ends of the earth and still end up fucking them up without meaning too, but I know from personal experience that trying to tell a parent they hurt you doesn't always go smoothly. They'll deny it, they'll be so infuriated with themselves that they can't come to terms with the fact they hurt a child they love, so instead, they'll blame the child for not being grateful or understanding the parent. They raised you perfectly fine, so the kid is the one who messed things up, as backwards as it is. Some parents don't comprehend that their child is going to turn out depending on how the parent has raised them. And sometimes? Sometimes the damage is so great that the child will want to cut their parent out of their loves completely, and there is NOTHING wrong with that.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'll try to get part three out soon as I can!


	3. Chapter 3

The partly closed door blocked out most of the conversation from downstairs as Scorpius bounced Osiris gently, pacing the floor and whispering to calm the baby's fussing. Osiris seemed clearly upset, giving little noises of protest, but wasn't crying yet, seeming to read the tension in the house and reacting to it. His chin was sitting on Scorpius' shoulder, a corner of his sleeve in his mouth, putting all concentration into dampening it with drool as he stared at the wall whenever Scorpius turned.

He paused only once to look at the door when it opened for Draco, wincing as the conversation below started to raise in volume, blocked when Draco shut the door and latched it with a click.

"Things aren't going well," Scorpius noted, and Draco just shook his head, "Albus shouldn't have said those things," he started to pace again, rubbing Osiris' back.

"You heard him?"

"Just till now," Scorpius answered, "It makes complete sense that his dad would be upset, we were expecting as much, but instead of just apologizing, Albus decided to argue with Harry like he should be ashamed of himself, that it's his fault Albus didn't tell him."

Draco took a seat in the chair beside Osiris' crib, "Using me to hurt him more was very impulsive of him, but I suppose I'm not surprised."

Scorpius sighed, "Not really. We already knew Harry would be a little testy on the fact you've been allowed here, but we also agreed not to lie to him. Albus could've gone about it in a better way."

"In the end I doubt we can do much to lessen the blow, just let Albus blow off steam and try to reason with him once he's calmed down," Draco spun the ring on his left hand, "He's not stupid, he'll feel immediate regret for yelling. I know it will give him momentary relief to blame his father for everything, but it will only hurt him in the end."

The voices on the first floor seemed to get louder, Scorpius was tempted to put his ear to the door, but thought better of it and continued his slow pace beside the bed, trying to get Osiris to sleep. The infant was clearly tired, and it was around his nap time anyway. He was usually good about sleeping, but he seemed to be fighting it. Maybe because Albus wasn't there, and he was used to being tucked in by both parents? He gave a little whine of protest and Scorpius hushed him, pausing when he heard Ginny's voice break in, going for a bit before the house became quiet.

Scorpius met his father's eye, jumping when the door slammed and Osiris grabbed at his shoulder, hiccuping, "I think that means it's over with," Scorpius whispered, staring at the door and tensing when he heard footsteps pace up the stairs, clinging tightly to Osiris as they reached the door and quickly passed it.

The door at the very end of the hall closed, and Scorpius exhaled, figuring Ginny or Harry had found their bags in their room and decided to shut themselves in. It was probably Harry. Scorpius looked back at Draco, who sighed a little as he watched his son walk over to the crib, lying Osiris in it despite how he was still awake and fussing.

He sat on the edge of his bed and slowly rocked the crib as Osiris finally opened his mouth in a little yawn.

"Albus left to calm down," Scorpius guessed, and Draco hummed.

"Not the wisest idea, with the blizzard going on."

"The cave isn't far, he's probably there," Scorpius looked over his shoulder out the window, "I need to go talk to him."

"Are you alright?"

"Not really," Scorpius laughed, leaning forward to look into the crib, smiling genuinely when Osiris waved a hand up at him, "but it'll be fine. We've been through worse than this. I hate to keep asking you this, but do you mind watching him? Try to get him to sleep. He might get more fussy when I leave."

"I'll keep him calm. Shouldn't be too difficult to get him to sleep."

"Thanks, dad," Scorpius leaned down more to kiss Osiris' forehead, then stood up, "I won't be too long I don't think."

Downstairs three of the Potter's were converged around the fire, and Scorpius stayed on the stairs to watch them anxiously as they talked. Ginny was in the armchair, leaning with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, as Lily sat on the end of the couch closest to her. James was looking at the tree, at one of the ornaments, wandering over to the mantle after a moment to look at what was sitting on top.

"I could feel how badly this would go when we saw Albus, how nervous he looked," Ginny admitted, "but this is ridiculous."

"Albus kind of put his foot in his mouth just now, but he was right about dad never writing him," Lily offered, "That doesn't mean it was fair for him to say. He and dad are too stubborn for their own good, it's always made them clash."

"Not that bad," Ginny argued, and James turned with a framed photo in his hand.

"I dunno mum, remember the time dad said he wished Al wasn't his kid? That caused a whole chain of events that nearly destroyed the world and got he and Scorpius killed."

Ginny ran her hands back over her hand to hook them behind her neck, "Thank you, darling, I needed that memory."

James shrugged, "I'm saying it has definitely been that bad, and somehow they've worked through it. Al and dad have their differences, they'll yell at each other and say bad things, but they'll always come back to each other and apologize. It's always been like that, it's how he and dad communicate."

"You're seriously not worried?" Lily asked, "Do you have cotton in your head?"

"No I'm not," James answered, "because it's been like this forever. Albus is different, always has been, we communicate with him a little different than we do with each other, because he's not as comfortable telling us things. We weren't as supportive of him as we could have been when he was in school."

"You're one to talk," Lily folded her arms, "You're the one who teased him endlessly about being sorted into Slytherin."

James held his hands out, "I thought it was funny that he worried so much about it."

"I don't think he found it as funny," Lily decided and Ginny rolled her head to the side.

"We certainly could have done more to make him feel welcome. I can't imagine how isolated he felt with the rest of us. It does make more sense that he gravitated towards Scorpius and Draco, being Slytherin's while the rest of his own family were Gryffindor's. One or two Hufflepuff's and a Ravenclaw visiting at Christmas didn't exactly help."

"The Potter's and Weasley's have always been Gryffindor's, I know, I checked," James pointed at Lily, who rolled her eyes, "Even dad's mum and aunt Hermione, muggle borns, were full blood Gryffindor's. Centuries of this and Albus comes along to break the chain. Dad tried to make him feel better about it by saying it didn't matter what house he was in, but the more Albus cared, the more dad cared, because he's a dad and he worries about his kids, he picks up on it when we're upset. Lily and I were just easier to talk to when we were upset."

"Albus was impossible," Lily huffed, leaning back on the arm of the couch and tilting her head back, "He was always so negative about himself, but you know... he's never hugged me that hard before," she smiled at Ginny, "Just now, and when I graduated a few years ago, I'd never seen him that happy, like being here, away from us, made him love us more."

"Lily, please," James held out the photo, "He loves us as much as he always has. Being here just makes it easier for him to show it."

Lily peered at him suspiciously before jumping off the couch and striding over to take the framed photo, smiling, "He's got a picture of us up? Didn't he have one in his bedroom that he put face down in his third year?"

"Your father was upset about that," Ginny noted, "Maybe James is right."

"Thanks mum!"

"That certainly doesn't excuse what he said to your father, though. I'm upset too, that Albus never told us."

"You really never expected them to get married?" Lily asked, putting the photo back up on the mantle, "I was betting on it. Everyone was," she looked at James, who seemed distressed, "You owe me eighty entire Galleons by the way."

"Woman do you think I have that money?"

Lily smiled back at Ginny, "I made so much money off the betting pool."

"The what?" Ginny pinched the bridge of her nose, though she was smiling through it.

"Started it Al's fourth year after all that happened," Lily explained, "He and Scorpius were stuck at Hogwarts because they lost out on their holiday, remember? So we all got together while you and the other adults were cooking and made bets on how long it would take them to either get together, confess, or get married."

"Lily that is terrible but I'm not surprised you would do it," Ginny sighed, and James folded his arms.

"I didn't think there was any merit to her betting on it, seemed ridiculous. Rose didn't bet on it either. I figured Scorpius was head over heels for Rose and she was under the same impression."

"What changed your mind?" Ginny had her chin against her fist, "I'm almost afraid to ask that."

"Oh I saw 'em snogging," James explained, and Ginny dropped her face into her hands as Scorpius blushed from the stairway, "Thought they were being sneaky about it."

"You're grounded," Ginny said, and James held his hands out in bewilderment.

"What do you think of Osiris, mum?" Lily asked, and Ginny stared down at the carpet.

"I don't know."

"I like him, he's super cute," Lily smiled at James, "He's got Scorp's eyes, did you notice?"

"I'm wrapping my head around the idea of Al as a dad," James said, his nose wrinkled, "That's bizarre."

"You can sort of tell by how he acts that it's already starting to effect him," Lily said, looking at Ginny, "Accept for just now when he yelled at dad like he was still a kid. You didn't see mum, before you and dad got here, he was all hovering when we met Osiris. He really loves him, I think."

A smile broke Ginny's lips, "Definitely seems that way."

"Dad didn't even see him," James said with a frown, "I bet when he does he'll just roll over."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "He does really love kids."

"Mum you're a grandma now," Ginny narrowed her eyes at James, who was grinning now.

Scorpius took the pause in the conversation to show himself, walking down the last few steps and into the room, nearly freezing when James and Lily looked at him but relaxing when they smiled, "Sorry," he said, holding his hands up, "am I interrupting your conversation?"

"Course not, and you can do what you want, it's your house," James assured as Scorpius lowered his hands, "Al stormed out a bit ago, not sure where he went."

"Probably to check the Opaleye's," Scorpius said, staring at the door, "He's a bit protective of them, and if he's anxious, being around dragons calms him down."

"Merlin that is odd," James met Ginny's eye, "You ever guess he'd be an animal person?"

Ginny shrugged, "I figured someone else in this family would be drawn here eventually. Dragon's already got Charlie, it was only a matter of time before more of us were attracted to them."

"I should go talk to him," Scorpius said, walking over to the door and taking his cloak down from where it was hanging, looking nervously at the Potter's from where he stood, "Are the rest of you...?"

"We're fine," James smiled, "Used to them fighting by now."

Scorpius deflated and looked down as he secured the front of his cloak, "I'd like to apologize."

"You don't have to apologize for him," Ginny argued, and Scorpius shook his head before looking at her.

"Oh I'm not, I'm apologizing for me. I made a mistake by encouraging him to not write you. I didn't... tell him not to, I just didn't ever force him to. I never forced him to tell you about us, and about Osiris. Please don't assume he never wanted to write at all, because he's written you dozens of letters. He just... could never send them. I caught him a few times, writing letters, one word at a time, a few sentences written before he left the table to distract himself. Sometimes he only wrote half a letter before throwing it in the fire. I think he was scared to contact you.

"He didn't keep anything from you with the intention of hurting you, but that's what happened. When we got here it was... hard to adjust for him. I really don't like thinking about it, but there are some things that stay with you, no matter how much time has passed, you know? The longer he was here, I could tell he was learning more about himself and maturing, and I was happy about that. He smiles more, laughs a lot more, he's even making friends with other wizards in the same line of work as magizoologists and dragon experts. He likes being here, but every letter he got from you seemed to make him feel worse. That's certainly not your doing at all, I think the longer he was away from you the more... unfit, I suppose, he felt, to write you.

"It was probably pretty obvious, but he didn't feel very worthy of being your son when he was sorted into Slytherin, and he didn't understand that's what he felt until we'd moved and he had enough time to think about it. He was happy to be a Slytherin, happy with me I guess, but he always felt the closer to me he got, the further away from you he moved."

"That's not true at all," Ginny argued softly, "He can be a Slytherin, marry a Slytherin, have kids, and still be part of our family. We still love him and want to be part of his life."

"He knows that, realistically, but it's hard to grasp that reality sometimes. It's not you he fights with the most, it's himself," Scorpius turned to the door, "I'll talk to him. It'll be fine."

"Thank you. Scorpius," Ginny stopped him again, her smile crooked, "Congratulations, by the way."

Scorpius just stared at her before returning her smile with a sheepish one of his own, nodding before leaving the house. The snow had let up some, though it was still falling, piling on the ground high enough to make it difficult for Scorpius to walk through. It was clear enough that he could see the entrance of the cave without the use of his wand, and managed to reach it in a decent amount of time, ducking into it and shaking the snow off his cloak before looking up.

The Welsh Green knew him, knew his scent, but he still stepped cautiously as he came into sight of it, lifting his cloak for the dragon to sniff before she settled down, not protesting as Scorpius timidly pat her neck and walked around her to where the Opaleye eggs were nested near her tail.

Albus was sitting there, like he'd been expecting, wrapped up in his cloak with his chin sitting on top of his knees, staring at the eggs with his back to the Welsh Green's side. It was warm in the cave, but if he'd walked out in the blizzard going just minutes ago it was likely his cloak was heavy and damp.

"Albus," Scorpius called to him, stepping over the dragon's long leg, and Albus seemed to tense before relaxing.

"How's Osiris?"

"Refusing to sleep, I think he misses you tucking him in," Scorpius answered, making his way over and sitting down beside Albus, "We may spoil him a bit. Are you okay?"

Albus just stared at the eggs in front of him, not answering at first. Scorpius didn't push him to answer, waiting patiently until Albus gave a short laugh.

"I said some bad stuff to him," he said, and Scorpius took that as a sign to wrap an arm around him, "There's something really wrong with me."

"I won't lie and tell you everything you said was justified, because it wasn't. I do understand why you ended up fighting with him, though," Albus swayed towards Scorpius, lying his head against his shoulder, and Scorpius ran a hand through his hair, "You know the best thing you could have done was apologize to him. To admit you did something wrong, acknowledge that it hurt your family, and make steps towards gaining their forgiveness."

"I know."

"Why didn't you do that then?" Scorpius asked, and Albus shut his eyes.

"In the heat of the moment I just got mad and lashed out. I swear I didn't mean to, I tried to keep my head level, but the way he just... said if I'd just bothered to tell him what was going on... I already feel guilty enough, and I know he's mad but he didn't even try looking at Osiris. He lashed at Draco, lashed at you-."

"And you lashed at him, Albus," Scorpius said, "Sounds familiar, doesn't it? You clash because you're so much like him."

"I have to be the one to apologize," Albus muttered, "I'm supposed to be able to handle this kind of thing without immaturely reacting. I should have told them sooner and I didn't, and I'm facing the consequences now. That's fine. I don't care if my dad hates me. So long as I manage to get across that I'm sorry. Even if he doesn't forgive me..."

"That would crush you, Albus. Say whatever you want, I know you just want to make him proud."

"I don't think he'd be proud of who I am right now..."

"Why not? You've done so much to further your career already, you've done good things, and you understand yourself more. All my dad ever wanted was for me to be happy, to do something with my life that makes me satisfied. If I never told him about us, about Osiris, he would definitely be upset, but mostly I think he would be mad at himself. Harry is probably feeling the same way, mad at himself that you didn't feel like you could talk to him at all. He could never hate you, Al, but it might take him a while to forgive you."

"That's fine," Albus said, struggling to sound confident through the shake in his voice, "It's not like I was expecting anything else."

Scorpius continued to stroke his fingers through Albus' hair as he stayed leaning against his shoulder, not quite liking how cold and damp his hair was. It was warm in the cave thanks to the Welsh Green, yes, but warm and wet clothes didn't go well together.

"Let's go home," Scorpius urged, "You're going to get sick if you don't change."

"I don't really want to face them...," Albus admitted, and Scorpius kissed his temple.

"You're not staying out here dressed like this, and if you get sick I'm not letting you near our son. That doesn't seem like a good deal, does it now?"

"Not really..."

"Then come on," Scorpius stood up, pulling Albus with him, "You can deal with your dad later, it's only one or two in the afternoon."

"Feels like it should be night already."

Scorpius took Albus' hand and lead him out of the cave, though Albus did stop to pet the Welsh Green a moment and praise her for taking care of her foster brood. They walked through the door into an empty room, but Albus could hear his siblings down the stairs and figured they must have found their bags, and discovered where they would be sleeping. He was grateful for the reprieve from his family, and handed Scorpius his cloak before starting for the stairs.

He needed more time to gather himself and ready an apology for not only his father, but his mother and his siblings who had to sit through their petty, entirely pointless argument, so he was as quiet as he possibly could be without using a silencing charm as he found dry clothes in his and Scorpius' bedroom before locking himself in the bathroom.

It was still quiet when he stepped out of the bathroom, but he could hear voices from behind the door to his parents guest bedroom, deciding not to bother them and instead returning to his bedroom where Draco was sitting with Osiris.

"Did you manage to get him to sleep?" Albus asked, stopping by the crib and leaning against it to watch his son.

"Somehow," Draco answered, arms folded, "He really doesn't like being unable to see you both."

"Yea."

"Scorpius was the same way for the first few years, crying if Astoria and I were gone too long."

"Gives me a bit of hope," Albus said, reaching in to pull the blanket higher, "I really, really don't want him to be like me."

"There's nothing wrong with you, Albus. You're young, you make mistakes, you have time to fix them."

"I'm sorry I pulled you into my business with my father," Albus said, ignoring what Draco had said, "It wasn't fair to you, and it was inappropriate, especially considering this is supposed to be a fun reunion."

"Don't worry about it."

"You and your family have been used and manipulated enough through the years, I should not have been one of the people added to the list."

"Telling your father you like me better than him, and being manipulated by one of the greatest dark wizards of all time, are two completely different situations. One of them is actually very amusing to me."

"Is it the one where I said I like you better than my father?"

"Yes."

"Just making sure."

"Believe me, Albus, I've been through worse than you using me to annoy Harry Potter, and I am not the one you need to apologize to. I already understand why you lashed out, your father doesn't. Apologize to him. Osiris deserves to have both his grandfathers around. I imagine Harry would be able to teach him more than I could."

"I don't know, I think you both have your good points that he would benefit from growing up around," Albus said, picking up the dragon toy from where it was leaning against the corner of the crib and tucking it closer to Osiris, "Right now, he's my priority. At the very least I need to make peace with my dad for Osiris' sake."

"A worthy enough goal, to focus entirely on your son."

"Well, and Scorpius," Albus smiled without looking at Draco, "He and Osiris are the most important people to me."

"Keep all of your family, Albus," Draco advised, "I know you isolated yourself as a way to heal, but don't let your self hatred ruin the relationships with those who truly love you. Your family is not toxic, only your thoughts are. If you cut them off and turn them away for too long, you could end up entirely alone."

"I know you're right," Albus sighed, stroking Osiris' cheek with his thumb, "I'll apologize. Tomorrow probably. I feel like he won't want to see me right now."

"I'll leave you to your thoughts then," Draco stood up, "Consider what I said, I'll inform Scorpius you'll be a minute."

"Thank you," Albus murmured, "I'll... I think I'll just watch him for a while."

"I'll shut the door."

"Thanks," Albus looked over his shoulder when he heard the door latch, stepping around the crib to sit on the edge of the bed, one hand on the crib so he could rock it gently and watch Osiris sleep.

He knew he made mistakes, he knew he was in the wrong, that was all he needed to know. All he could do now was apologize, and everything that happened after that, whether his father forgave him or not, he had no right to protest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, there will be five parts. Maybe. I'm going to try to stop at five because there's more I want to write for this ship. Can't keep dragging it out just because I'm having fun (yes I can). This was my favorite chapter to write so far hell yea!

Albus stayed with Osiris for the duration of his nap. After a long time of simply sitting there, Albus reached into the crib to lift the infant up, laying down on the bed and lying Osiris out on his chest, ensuring the blanket was wrapped around him and falling asleep himself. Maybe he was exhausted from the emotional stress, from the guilt, he just wanted to sleep away his problems while holding his son.

Downstairs Scorpius distracted himself by cooking and clearing away his work from the table, piling papers and books that he'd left out as Draco walked down the steps while James and Lily came up from the basement.

"You're back!" Lily greeted, "Did you bring Albus?"

"He's upstairs," Scorpius said, picking up his armful of work, "Is your mom...?"

"Oh she's talking to dad right now," James explained, "Forget about him for now, it'll be fine. The basement is wicked! Like a Hogwarts common room!"

"What do you do for fun around here?" Lily asked, and Scorpius shrugged.

"We don't really have time for fun, so I'm not sure. I have to bring this stuff out to the shack, but you can help me with dinner if you want."

"What shack?" Lily leaned against the table, watching Scorpius move to the door that lead out into the greenhouse.

"It's where I keep most of my work, in the greenhouse. Albus works in the attic most of the time."

"What's up in the attic?" James asked, and Scorpius turned away, opening the door.

"I wouldn't go up there."

"That makes me want to."

"I don't think you're qualified to deal with what's up there," Scorpius warned as he stepped out, and James watched him before looking at Lily.

"Am I the only one concerned from that?"

"Well, Al is a magizoologist now," Lily offered, and James hummed, arms folded.

"Never sounded like a dangerous job before."

"You'd be surprised," Draco said from his other side, and James furrowed his brow, "Albus is first and foremost a dragon keeper like Charlie Weasley, even if he does indulge in other research in his spare time."

"Have you been up there before?" Lily asked, pointing at the ceiling, and Draco wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"No, and I have no interest in invading his work space. I'd much rather look around the greenhouse."

"I think you've gotten lazy in your old age, Mister Malfoy," James noted, and Draco gave him a blank look.

"Best to leave the life threatening work to the younger wizards."

"Charming."

"Good, you didn't sneak off when I was out there," Scorpius shut the door when he stepped back into the kitchen, "I was expecting you to try and break into the attic in the three minutes I was gone."

"Who do you think I am exactly?" James asked, hand on his chest, and Scorpius grinned.

"This is a really beautiful place, but there are definitely some rules you need to follow if you don't want to lose a limb," he said this at the convenient time when Ginny stepped back down the stairs, one eyebrow arching as Scorpius folded his arms and directed his words to Lily and James, "First of all, stay out of the attic. There's a charmed lock on it that can't be broken by general wizards, so you should be kept out for the most part without much trouble."

"Don't tempt me," James warned, and Scorpius just smiled more.

"There aren't many dangerous things up there, but if you don't know how to work with them, you could get hurt. Second, do not under any circumstances go near the mountain. There are a few caves going up the side, most of the dragons are older and easier to deal with, but if you're not experienced with them, I would stay away. The cave at the base of the mountain, closest to us, houses a Welsh Green, and she can be very testy. If she doesn't recognize your scent immediately, she won't hesitate to burn you alive."

"That sounds brilliant," James said, eyes wide, "Isn't that where Albus was a minute ago?"

"Yea," Scorpius moved as he talked, pulling down cooking tools, "She's been fostering a brood of eggs, Albus may have mentioned that, and she was blinded in her egg, so she's protective and cautious."

"Oh she's a mum," James nodded wisely, "Mums are scary."

"Good," Ginny said from behind her oldest son, making him jump and grab his chest.

"Mum, don't do that!"

"Are there any other rules?" Lily asked, "And do you want help cooking?"

"I think those are the two big ones," Scorpius said, handing her the dishes, "There's a lake nearby as well that I'd avoid going near. It's frozen over right now, but we only know a fraction of what's down there, and not all of it is harmless."

"So the only safe place is the house," James said it as a statement, and Scorpius smiled at him.

"Attic."

"So the only safe place is the first floor of this house."

"Pretty much," Scorpius turned away and James looked at Lily.

"How does Al live like this?"

"After four years of working around dragons and other magical beasts, he's pretty attuned to dealing with them," Scorpius revealed.

"What are we planning to do for Christmas dinner?" Lily asked, "We only have two days to prepare!"

"Anything we need to get last minute can be picked up at the muggle town nearby," Scorpius said, "We'll have to walk out of the barrier and apparate to the outskirts of the town since it's pretty far away on foot, but it's usually not a long trip."

"I wanna bake!" Lily revealed, and James laughed.

"Do you have the recipe, or do you intend to burn the house to the ground?" he turned to Scorpius, waving a hand to himself, "I'll bake."

Lily sent a hard punch into his arm that had him swaying and grabbing his shoulder with a wince, teeth grit as he slouched down as if in defense. Scorpius just laughed at the exchange before giving them his initial plan. They never had a very big dinner at Christmas, but since so many people had come for the holidays, what they usually made had to be doubled at least. It had been a while since Scorpius had been part of a really big celebration, and though he loved spending Christmas just with Albus and his father, part of him missed the get-togethers. There was still tensions in the house, but he was confident they would be gone by Christmas.

Later when Scorpius went up to get Albus, he found him sleeping on top of the covers with Osiris cuddled under his chin, and almost didn't wake him up, but if he didn't then Osiris would be up all night, and Albus would be a cranky wreck, which would not help when he went to talk to his father. Ginny tried to get Harry to come down, but he refused, so at the end of the meal Scorpius just gave her a plate for him.

Scorpius could hear the couple whispering to each other that night, being careful not to raise their voices too much to be heard or wake people up. Shutting the door blocked out most of it since their room was down the hall, and he managed to sleep through the night, completely worn out from the stress and excitement.

Albus woke up before everyone else the next morning, taking a moment to just stare up at the ceiling before making himself sit up, looking to his left where Scorpius was still curled up on his side, one arm stuck out and hand hanging off the edge of the bed, fingers brushing the side of Osiris' crib. It brought a smile to his lips, and he leaned down to kiss his cheek before pulling the covers higher and slipping out of bed.

Peering out the window showed it had snowed most of the night, but the sky was currently clear. Albus dressed quietly before checking on Osiris, grinning when he saw he was already awake and looking around, miraculously not making a sound until he saw Albus and gave a breathy laugh.

"Can't have you waking him," Albus whispered, collecting him into his arms and stepping away from the crib, "Let's get you dressed and get you breakfast."

Ginny was awake second, walking down the stairs to see Albus already up, sitting at the table and facing the highchair where he'd placed Osiris, who was eagerly accepting the soft food he was being offered, still clinging to the little dragon and giggling through mouthfuls of apple sauce.

"Morning, Albus," Ginny greeted with a smile, and Albus looked over at her, eyes wide, clearly caught off guard.

"Mum, you're awake early."

"So are you."

"Oh, I guess I'm used to it," Albus looked back at Osiris, "I started some coffee if you want any."

"Appreciate that. Scorpius still asleep?"

"Yea, didn't want to wake him up," Albus said, poking Osiris' bottom lip with the spoon until the infant focused back on him and opened his mouth, "Yesterday was kind of... exhausting."

"Can't imagine you get much sleep anymore either way," Ginny smiled as she poured herself coffee, looking over to watch Albus clean Osiris' face with a towel.

"I dunno, Osiris' good about sleep. So long as we're both around he'll go to bed without much argument, and he stays asleep as long as one of us are in the room. Almost like he can sense us and feel when we leave. Weird kid," Osiris gave a smile and shook his fists, making Albus laugh, "He doesn't cry much either."

"Wait till he starts walking," Ginny pulled a chair closer to sit next to Albus, smiling when Osiris looked at her curiously, "James was mortifying when he got on his feet. You weren't as bad, but Merlin did you cry."

Albus just smiled and rubbed away some of the apple sauce stuck on Osiris' chin, "He cries when we're not around," he admitted, "He likes his grandpa, but doesn't appreciate being without us for too long. I can't tell yet if he likes people or not, because he doesn't cry when he meets new folk, but he doesn't seem very eager to meet them either."

"Maybe he's just shy," Ginny offered.

"Guess we'll find out when he's older," Albus said, picking up the empty bowl and spoon and taking them to the sink, "Scorpius says we might coddle him a bit much, that he has to get used to being without us eventually, even for a short amount of time, but he's only a few months old," he looked over his shoulder just to check, smiling when he saw Osiris focused on Ginny, "I guess he's right."

"Did you travel much for your work?" Ginny asked, and Albus poured himself a cup of coffee as he answered.

"We both did a bit, before Osiris. We went down to Africa for a few weeks one time to help with a Nundu problem."

"Nundu," Ginny looked back at him, "Can't say I know what that is, but the name is familiar."

"Imagine it would be," Albus folded his arm across his chest as he held his coffee up with the other hand, "Don't think too hard on it, you'll just worry."

"That doesn't seem very good."

"Charlie and Rolf Scamander came down with us," Albus offered, "Met a lot of wizards, a lot of magizoologists and dragonkeepers. A dragonkeeper from New Zealand and an animagus graduate from Uagadou who generally works with the more dangerous beasts down there. It's beautiful down there, I'd really like to go back."

"An animagus?"

"Registered, don't worry mum, haven't done anything illegal yet I don't think," Albus laughed into his mug, "I'd like to visit New Zealand again too. Can't lie, Opaleye's are quite my favorite dragon."

"They're one of the least dangerous of them, aren't they?"

"Depends on your perspective," Albus said, looking off to the side towards the fireplace and taking another drink of his coffee, "All dragons are dangerous. Can I ask you to do me a favor?" he walked over and threw another log into the fireplace to keep it burning.

"Course darling, what is it?"

"I've got to feed the monsters in my attic before they eat each other, but I can't take Osiris with me."

"Oh, I can watch him!" Ginny said, "I don't mind at all!"

"Thanks," Albus poked at the logs until the flames were at a decent height, then turned away, "Make sure this fire doesn't go out either," he pointed to the bright red salamander scampering around one of the stockings, "It'll kill this guy, and I've grown pretty fond of him the past few months. His name's Sam."

Ginny stared at her son, "You named the lizard?"

"It's a salamander mum," Albus defied, "They're born of flames, and so long as the fire keeps burning, they'll stay alive. Their blood can be used in tonics and healing potions, but the poor guy is little so we can only take a drop or two every few weeks. Plus I like him."

"Okay, sure," Ginny nodded, "I'll keep an eye on the fire too."

"I'll try not to be too long," Albus promised, stepping over to the highchair and smoothing a hand through the bit of dark hair on Osiris' head, leaning down to kiss the crown of his head before starting for the stairs.

He'd taken two up before stopping and backing up to lean back into the room, "Mum?" Ginny looked over her shoulder at him with a hum, "I'm sorry, for everything. Not telling you or dad about Scorpius, about Osiris, and... about me, too. There's a lot I haven't told you that I should have, and I'm sorry."

Ginny was silent to let him talk, smiling weakly when he was finished, "I know you are, Albus. You're not malicious and you're not a bad person, you don't do anything with the intention of hurting people, even if they've hurt you in some way. I can't lie and tell you I'm not upset because I am, but mostly I'm just sad. I wish I could have been here for you, for Scorpius and for your son. Being a new parent can by exhausting, and with both of you working in addition to taking care of a newborn, your father and I know how difficult that can be. I can forgive you, Albus, because I know you didn't mean to hurt any of us, but I'm still sad. Just promise me something."

"Yea, mum, anything you want."

"Don't cut us off again," Ginny said, "Or I really don't think I'll be able to forgive you."

"I won't do it again, mum," Albus said, "I swear to you. Of all things you deserve to be in Osiris' life, and I don't want to lose you either. I promise it won't happen again. You'll probably have to scold me again for some other reason, but not because of this."

"Oh I can imagine there are plenty of things I have to make up for, plenty of instances I wasn't there to parent and discipline you. All the things I've heard Charlie was a part of in his earlier days as a dragon keeper, I'd be surprised if you didn't get yourself caught in a few things as well."

"You have no idea," Albus chuckled, hiking the rest of the way up the stairs to the attic entrance.

The rest of the house woke up while Albus was in his work space, first James and Lily, drawn up to the kitchen by hunger but distracted by their nephew sitting in his highchair. Draco came down next, sitting by the fire with coffee, and Scorpius came down moments later already dressed and smiling when he saw Osiris giggling and clinging to James' fingers. He already figured where Albus was, so didn't ask, instead moving to start breakfast with James hopping to help.

Harry had woken not long after Ginny, but remained in the bedroom even after dressing, sitting on the foot of the bed simply staring at his folded hands, the words scarred into the back of his right. His mind was a mess and he still couldn't decide if he was angry or sad, even after discussing it with Ginny for so long. She was mainly sad, Harry understood that much, but she didn't blame Harry and she didn't blame herself. She figured this was just something that was a long time coming, something that had to happen. It was just another circumstance they had to work through, something Albus had to work through. All they could do as his parents was try to understand why it happened.

Albus was a good kid, a good man, doing good work. There was no evil in him, just confusion and loneliness, and there was nothing wrong with that. He and Ginny raised a good, kind man. There was nothing wrong with the fact Albus had problems talking to people and took a while to communicate. There was nothing wrong with him at all. Still, Harry wasn't happy.

He was distracted by his thoughts until the sound of footsteps above him drew his attention, eyes lifting to the ceiling as the first thing that occurred to him was the fact he didn't know if there was an attic. Or if there was one in the house, who would be up there? His hand moved to his wand and he stood up, still staring at the ceiling as he moved to the door and slipped out into the crooked hallway.

From where he stood he could hear everyone downstairs, Ginny, James, Lily, Scorpius, even the gleeful coos and laughter from Osiris. They were all downstairs, but there was someone in that attic. Maybe it was his years as an Auror, his history with dark wizards in danger, but all he could consider was that someone dangerous could have gotten in and was sabotaging the house in some way, targeting those below for some reason.

It wouldn't be the first time Albus and Scorpius had been targeted by a dark wizard.

Harry made his way down the hall, passing closed doors until he reached one at the very back. There was a sign bolted to it, red with bold golden letters that read CAUTION: DANGEROUS ANIMALS WITHIN. That certainly didn't sit right, and as he tried the doorknob he found it was locked. A simple unlocking spell didn't work, so he traced his wand down the outer crease of the door and whispered a more advanced spell that melted the mechanism of the lock, breaking it so he could pull the door open and slip inside, shutting the door behind him.

There was another staircase that lead up, darker than he would have liked, but a light from the attic above cast enough down the stairs that Harry could see his way up the steps. The scent was different here than in the rest of the house, earthy and bitter like pine trees and sage leaves. There was another door at the top of the steps, a cage that was glowing a gentle gold. It wasn't locked, and Harry could see Albus through the bars.

He was grateful not to have walked in on some dark wizard preparing to massacre his family, but he couldn't help wondering why Albus was up there. Standing at a work table of some sort, wand between his teeth as he flipped through papers on a clipboard, swatting at the air now and then. It took Harry a moment of adjustment to realize there were things flying around, going too fast for him to see them clearly.

Albus pulled the wand from his teeth and swatted the air again, "Do you bloody mind? I'm busy, let me work so I can go back downstairs. I fed you already."

Harry reached out for the door and pushed it open, but the minute he stepped inside, something seemingly invisible shot at him with a strange buzzing sound. He shot his arms up to swat the air and Albus looked over with wide eyes.

"Dad!" he waved his wand towards Harry and shut the door behind him, "Immobulus!"

Harry kept his arms up as he peered out from between them, watching small creatures freeze in the air around him, bright sapphire blue, wings stuck out of its head like iridescent ears, and a long stinger on the bottom of their bodies.

Albus sighed out a little, shoulders sagging as he lowered his wand, rolling his eyes a bit, "Dad, what are you doing up here? Didn't you see the sign?"

"What," Harry lowered his arms, leaning back as he moved around the bugs, "I saw the sign, I thought you were downstairs is all, figured... someone might be up here, someone dangerous."

"Who in Merlin do you think would be in my house that's dangerous? The only danger are the people who don't read signs," he strode forward and started plucking the blue bugs from the air, "These things aren't usually fatal, but their sting isn't pleasant, and you'll be levitating for hours after it."

"They don't sting you?" Harry asked, watching him toss the bugs into a cage before closing and locking it.

"They know better," Albus said, sighing, "You're lucky something more dangerous wasn't loose."

"More dangerous?" at the statement, Harry decided to take a better look around the room, realizing it was a lot larger than he first assumed it would have been, or should have been, "Did... did you cast the extension charm on this room?"

"Me? Merlin no," Albus said it on a laugh, "Rolf Scamander did it years before I moved in, let me keep it the way it was to help contain my work."

"I see," Harry murmured, eyeing the room.

There were cages set up along the walls on top of tables, herbs and dried plants hanging from the ceiling. A domed section of the ceiling was fit with glass that showed the sky, inlaid with what looked like an astronomical chart. There was another door across the room, but it was closed, so Harry had no idea where it lead. With the extension charm, it could lead to another room entirely.

He found himself wandering towards one of the cages out of pure curiosity, squinting at the strange bird that was perched inside. It was bright orange, the long tail colored yellow and pink, large eyes watching Harry with seemingly as much curiosity as Harry felt.

"That's a Fwooper," Albus said, and Harry looked over his shoulder to see Albus was at the table again, putting papers in a drawer before moving away from it, hands stuffing in his pockets, "A gift from a friend down in Africa."

"I don't know much about these things, but aren't you supposed to have a licence for this bird?"

"I have one," Albus assured, stopping next to Harry and smiling as the Fwooper's large eyes found him, head quirking to the side as the creature side stepped on his perch, closer to Albus, who reached through the bars so the Fwooper could preen at his fingers, "I've had her for a few years, hasn't caused any problems so far. The silencing charm she's under is unbreakable and recast every month, and she doesn't mean any harm to anyone as it is."

"The ministry, I remember, they consider Fwoopers dangerous enough."

"Their songs can drive a man to insanity, hence the silencing charm. It's not like they know any better," Albus pulled his hand from the cage and stuffed it back into his pocket, turning away from the Fwooper to pace around Harry.

"What do you have up here, exactly? Any more of those Fwoopers?"

"Just the one," Albus answered, "A handful of Billywigs, those are the bugs that almost stung you. The stingers can be used in potions, Scorpius has been researching the possible benefits of adding them to healing tonics. One of the side effects of the stings is a feeling of giddiness, so Scorpius is trying to see if they can be used as a sort of anesthesia. Aunt Hermione calls it laughing gas?"

"Oh," Harry uttered, looking over at the cage where the bugs were flying again.

"There's a Fire Crab in the tank over there, rescued from smugglers. Lost one of its legs so we can't send it back to where it's from. A few Doxy's are in the cage over there, I'm studying the venom it produces with Scorpius to see if there's any way to use it medically. So far no results. I have a surplus of the antidote but I advise you not to go near them."

"Huh," Harry barely glanced at the cage as he walked down the opposite wall, looking into the cages and tanks, one seemingly full of dirt, "Are these... worms?"

"Flobberworms, the mucus is used to thicken potions."

"That's disgusting."

"Well, it's useful."

"Anything else I should be aware of?"

"You should probably avoid the Glumbumbles," Albus pointed at a thick wooden box hanging on the wall, locked heavily, "They're useful, but irritating when loose. I have a couple Murtlap's, a Moke in the tank next to the Fire Crab, a few Puffskeins I'm mainly keeping for Rolf and Luna. Oh, you'll like this," Albus grinned at Harry and lead him to a small golden cage.

It seemed to be filled with green foliage and nests of hay. Albus pointed to one of the nests, and Harry leaned towards the cage to see closer. Tucked inside was a small round bird-like creature with a long golden beak and glistening ruby red eyes.

"That's a Snidget," Harry said, and Albus nodded.

"Figured you would know that, former Gryffindor Seeker."

"Albus these things are brutally rare," Harry gaped, "Where did you...?"

"When I was in Africa, I found him stuck in a trap. Couldn't leave him there, so I brought him home to protect him from shady wizards and smugglers."

"Wow," Harry looked at Albus, "When were you in Africa?"

Albus' smile faded and he reached up to rub his neck as if instinctively, "Last year. They needed help with a little problem and Rolf recommended me. He, Scorpius, Charlie and I all went down to do what we could. I got the Fwooper around the same time. I've got a pretty big interest in aviary beasts I suppose, though I'll work with just about anything," he turned away, still rubbing his neck, "Some of the creatures I keep for Scorpius' work and research, some I keep for their own protection, some for my research, some I just like. The Fwooper for instance. Some creatures just show up on their own and stay. I figure they either sense the barrier and see it's safe, or they're attracted to me because I'm a magizoologist."

"What creatures do that?"

"Come look," Albus stepped over to the door across the room, pulling it open to show it lead outside onto a balcony or roof garden of sorts.

It was covered by the overhanging branches of the three oak trees, intertwined as if to make a roof, and there were holes, caves carved out of the trunks, and a handful of small blue birds were hopping along the smaller branches, flitting in and out of the nests in the trunks. They looked like blue jays, but were eerily silent.

"These are?"

"Jobberknolls," Albus answered, "Their feathers are useful in potions made to build resistance against curses and jinxes. Scorpius is pretty interested in that, and they're rather gentle creatures, I don't mind them nesting here. I think they like the free food honestly."

"This is... really amazing," Harry admitted, watching a few of the Jobberknolls hop down a branch and drop onto Albus' head to peck at his hair.

There was a bench just in front of him, in the middle of the small section of roof, which Harry walked around to sit on, still watching as Albus reached up to move the bird in his hair, returning it to one of the nests before shaking leaves from his hair.

"It really is amazing, Albus," Harry repeated, and his son's movements slowed, picking out a few more leaves and small branches and dropping them before putting his hands into his pockets and staring down.

"It's not, really," he said, leaning his shoulder against one of the trees, "Dad, I owe you an apology. I was out of line yesterday, I had absolutely no right to say what I said to you. It was unfair to keep you out of my life, to keep all of you out. You were right, dating someone is a choice I'm justified in keeping to myself, but I should have told you I proposed to him, you should have been part of it, you should have known when we had Osiris. You should have been included in a lot."

He paused, arms folded as he stared out over the field. It was covered in white snow, completely untouched by any animal or human, like an unblemished blanket, "I never... I never actually wrote Mister Malfoy," he said, not looking at his father, "I mean, Scorpius did, sometimes I'd tell him to say hello for me, but I rarely wrote him myself. I didn't really send letters at all."

Albus stopped again, swallowing the lump growing in his throat, and when Harry still didn't speak or reply he continued, "Also... I mean... look, I know you do worry about me, I mean you're my dad, you worry about James and Lily too... and frankly you have a good reason to worry, this line of work is...," he rubbed his neck again, "dangerous at best, and... what I said, about... ha-having no idea what I was doing, and blaming that on you, that wasn't right, and it wasn't true, or fair. I just... I said some horrible things to you and I regret all of them. I wanted to apologize to you for them."

Harry still said nothing, now leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded, looking over at Albus from the corner of his eyes as he slid down the trunk of the tree to sit on the ground, arms folded over his raised knees, chin sitting on his forearms.

"I really don't know what I'm doing, dad. After four years I can deal with dragons and Nundu's, but this is so much scarier. What I said before... you were the best dad I could have gotten, and honestly most of the time I didn't deserve how patient you were, all I did at school was mess up. I can't imagine people at the ministry said good things about me behind their hands, I was just an embarrassment to you in the end. I didn't know what I was doing with my life back then, and now I don't know what I'm doing with Osiris'. I'm not... worried that you somehow corrupted me, or that your way of raising me will corrupt how I deal with Osiris... I'm afraid I'll mess up all on my own, like I do with everything else," he hid his face against his arms, "He deserves better than me. They both do."

"Albus."

Albus winced, laughing into his arms, "I'm sorry, for everything. All I said last night, not contacting you in the last few years, how I was in school. I just wanted you to know, okay? I just wanted to apologize, but I don't expect any forgiveness. I don't even think I deserve it."

"Al."

"I said what I wanted," Albus said, standing up abruptly enough to cause the birds in the tree to flap their wings frantically, "I just want to have a decent Christmas without fighting, that's not fair to you, or mom, or Osiris. So I said what I needed, what I wanted, it's fine now."

He walked back into the attic, and Harry stood up to follow, reaching out to grab his son by the shoulder and pulling him back before turning him around and pulling him into a hug.

"If you were still living under my roof, I would ground you, but you're not a kid anymore, despite how I wish you were. I'm furious with you, and I'll stay mad at you for a while I imagine, but I do forgive you," he tightened his hold, pressing his cheek against the side of Albus' head, "The last thing I want to do is lose you, any of you. Listen, I know you're scared, I was too when we had your brother. I didn't have much to go off of. I had your grandfather, I had Sirius and Remus for a time, but I didn't have my own father to help me, to give me advice. I learned by trial and error, and it was terrifying. More terrifying than anything I'd dealt with before. It's worth it though, Al, and listen to me on this," he finally pushed Albus back, squeezing his shoulder, "They don't deserve better than you, they deserve you. Even if there was someone better, Scorpius chose you, that's the important part.

"You've been friends with Scorpius since you were eleven, it's fitting almost. I know I tried keeping you apart, especially when Delphini showed up, but the kind of relationship you had with him was never something I could have prevented. You were already in love with him then, weren't you?"

Albus seemed to visibly swallow down his nerves, "I don't know, I... that whole situation. I do consider it a lot when I try to figure out when exactly I started falling for him. Almost losing him... that's what did it. I don't know if I always loved him... I mean I did, I did always love him, but it wasn't until I almost lost him, when he almost lost me, that I really fell in love. We didn't plan Osiris," Albus laughed, dropping his head and lifting a hand to rub his eyes, "This work, it's not really kid friendly. A year ago, one wrong move and we never would've had him, but... I don't regret it, dad. I don't regret having him. I love him so much, dad."

Harry pulled Albus closer again, one arm wrapping around his shoulders, pressing a kiss to his hair, "I know, Al."

"I love them both."

"I know you do, son."

For a long time he just held Albus, letting him cry silently against his shoulder, but he pulled away once the shaking of his shoulders began to settle, wiping his eyes dry and turning to the table where most of his work was, clearing his throat and sifting through the papers.

"Everyone is downstairs right now," Harry said, "I can smell breakfast even from up here."

Albus gave a breathless laugh, reaching for a drawer to the left and pulling it open, lifting out a stack of letters tied together, turning and holding them out for Harry, "Here," he offered, and Harry stared at the letters before reaching out to take them.

"What are these?"

"Four years of what I never told you," Albus said, turning to the door, "There are pictures, too."

"... you did write."

"Course I wrote," Albus muttered, and Harry followed him down the stairs, shutting the gate behind him, "Just never sent them. Somehow I never could," he stopped at the door, opening it and shaking the knob before stepping out into the hall and gaping back, "Did you break my damn lock?"

"I thought someone had snuck in."

Albus held his hands out in disbelief, "Now I have to fix it!"

"I'll fix it," Harry promised, clapping a hand onto Albus' shoulder and shutting the door, pulling his wand out, "I'll lock it again, too. Head downstairs, I'll be there in a minute."

"Thanks," Albus muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and turning, stopping halfway down the hall before turning around again, "Hey, dad?" Harry hummed without looking, and Albus hesitated, "Neither of us changed our names," he said, "We don't really intend to. Just... keeping them individually. The work I'm doing, we get a bit of publicity. Look deeper into the South African ministry and you can find some newspaper articles about Scorpius and I aiding in the Nundu hunt a year ago."

Harry paused in his work and looked over at Albus, "It occurs to me... I didn't pay much attention in the Care of Magical Creatures class. Those are cats, right?"

"Sure dad," Albus turned again, "Anyway, to avoid too much publicity we kept our individual last names. People still talk, you know? Son of Voldermort, Slytherin Squib, the False Potter," he looked over his shoulder, "Merlin knows what they'd say if the world knew we'd married. We didn't want any more harassment than we were getting. Back in London, we're pariahs. Here, down in Africa, New Zealand, the places we've traveled to and aided... we're just... Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy," he grinned and looked towards the staircase, "The Wizarding World isn't ready for a Potter-Malfoy family. I think it might just scare them."

Harry tapped his wand against his thigh idly, "Do you want to change your name?"

"Not sure yet," Albus admitted, striding down the hall, "Whatever I choose, can't be worse than Albus Severus," he laughed after saying so and started down the stairs, leaving his father smiling as he fixed the broken door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, this isn't five chapters of bullshit, it's going to end up being SIX chapters of bullshit. I hope that's chill! I'm just having too much fun writing! I also added hints at the next thing I'll be writing! Kind of like a prequel to this one that takes place in Africa! I really want to write more about Albus being a magizoologist and working with lots of different animals, and introduce two of my stupid pointless OCs that should not exist and I am sorry for creating them but that's just how things be sometimes. Enjoy! I'll try to get chapter six written soon as I can!

The mood brightened and the tense atmosphere lifted like a fog at midday when Harry finally joined the rest of the family downstairs after fixing the door. He'd dropped off the letters in the guest bedroom for now, there were honestly too many to read in one setting, but he wanted to start them that night at least. There were dates on the top right corners, like Albus wanted to keep them in order, and just flipping through them, Harry figured he must have written at least once a week. Once a week for four years, and he never sent a single one. Harry didn't know if the nervousness was endearing or concerning.

It took him a while longer to actually look at Osiris, finishing a cup and a half of coffee during breakfast before he found himself inevitably looking over at the highchair between Scorpius and Albus. He was certainly small, and just that had Harry's heart lurching in his chest as he brought the cup to his lips again, looking from Osiris, to Scorpius, to Albus, and back again.

He had Scorpius' eyes, that was the most obvious part, and his hair was dominantly black like Albus' hair, though he could see tufts of white blond just above his ears. It must have been natural, and was actually kind of cute, and Harry silently noted it was remarkably similar to the dual coloring of Narcissa Malfoy's hair. He didn't know if he liked the idea of his grandson looking so much like that woman, but reminded himself she did save his life, and pushed the thought from his mind.

Osiris seemed like a happy baby, sitting without fuss and pulling at one of the wings of his dragon toy. That seemed appropriate, considering his father's career. There was a green blanket wrapped around him still, and he seemed to like it, clinging to it with his other hand, and lifting a corner to his mouth, either hungry or bored, it was never clear with babies what they wanted when they stuffed random objects into their mouths. Harry recalled when James did that, he was hungry, Albus never did it, and Lily just put everything in her mouth whatever it was. There was literally no tell.

James was talking, Harry realized, bugging Albus about his work while also explaining his own, while Lily broke in now and then to add her own experiences from the past two years out of Hogwarts. Albus seemed interested enough, one elbow propped on the table and his hand in his chin, the other holding his own cup of coffee as his eyes flickered from James to Lily without much emotion. The most he did was quirk a half smirk when they asked about his work, which was proof enough he probably wanted to talk about it, though was holding back, for whatever reason.

"There's a small community of wizards nearby," Scorpius was explaining, "Dragon keepers, magizoologists, and their families, moving close to work. The hospital there is bigger than most of the homes, that's where I work. They need all the help they can get sometimes, considering the dominate line of work here is looking after dragons. Can't tell you how good I've gotten at healing up burns."

"Albus the cause of some of that?" James asked with a grin, and Albus pulled his hand from under his chin to shrug with it, glaring at him.

"Why pick on me?"

"He's come home with a few," Scorpius said with the same grin, watching Albus pout before looking back at James, "Nothing too serious for a while though, I think he's gotten less reckless."

Albus just huffed through his nose and lifted the cup to his lips in defiance, "I think after this long I know how to not get burned," he argued.

"Don't be too defensive, Al," Ginny laughed, "Even Charlie still gets burned up sometimes."

"Sometimes it's necessary," Albus defended for his uncle, leaning back in his seat, "I think I'd prefer a burn in exchange for some of the bites and stings I've gotten."

"Or scratches," Scorpius offered, and Albus winced, staring at the table.

"Yea, or scratches."

"Can you tell us about the work?" Lily asked, both arms folded on the edge of the table as she leaned over it, "What's the first dragon you got to work with? How long were you here till Charlie let you take care of them yourself? Did Uncle Rolf give you this house immediately? You said you were in Africa, what did you do down there?"

"Lily, calm down!" Albus laughed, "It's not like I'm doing anything glamorous, there's really not a lot to tell! The first dragon I worked with was an Antipodean Opaleye, they're native to New Zealand. It took me a year to be able to handle them on my own, but it's still unsafe for me to approach an adult of prime health. Not alone at least. Even Charlie tries to avoid that, though. Rolf gave us the house a few months after we got here, and yea I was in Africa for a while," he lifted the cup to his mouth, looking down, "I helped with a Nundu problem."

Lily stared at him blankly and James piped up, "What's a Nundu?"

Albus set his cup down with a sigh, "You people are embarrassments."

"It's a giant leopard-like creature," Lily said to James, "Incredibly silent, and incredibly dangerous," she gaped at Albus, "You actually saw one? Aren't they hard to spot? I mean I know they can grow big as a house."

"Bigger," Albus said, tapping the side of his mug, "Certainly took a while to track it down."

"How dangerous?" Ginny asked, and Harry noticed the look Albus and Scorpius exchanged, the wince in their eyes, as Lily was the one to answer.

"Arguably one of the most dangerous creatures in the wizarding world. We learned about them in class, do you not remember?"

"Lily it's been a while since I've been in school," Ginny reminded.

"Never mind, mum," Albus dove into changing the subject, "That whole experience doesn't need to be discussed. It's what a fellow dragon keeper unironically calls The Nundu Incident, the end."

"It's what everyone involved calls The Nundu Incident," Scorpius corrected, "The African minister calls it The Nundu Incident."

"The end," Albus repeated, looking him in the eye, both looking at Osiris when he started giggling, like the whole situation was amusing to him.

"When did you realize about Osiris?" Ginny asked as Albus lifted the infant from his highchair and sat him on his lap.

"Not long after Africa," Scorpius answered her, looking at his hand and counting on his fingers, "That was over a year ago now, wasn't it? It had to have been. He's six months..."

"A year and a half?" Albus offered, cuddling Osiris to his chest.

"I know we were still in Africa hunting the Nundu... well, but we didn't realize till we got home," Scorpius folded his arms over the table and smiled over at their son, who was gnawing the dragon wing and staring at Harry, who was sitting next to Albus.

"Isn't running off on Safari kind of frowned upon if you're expecting a kid?" James asked, and Scorpius squinted at him.

"Well like I said, neither of us knew at the time," he argued, and James held his hands up in defense as Albus watched Scorpius from the corner of his eyes, then looked down at Osiris.

"We never would have gone to Africa if we had," he decided, and Scorpius looked at him in surprise.

"Well he's cute, so it's fine," Lily said, leaning further forward to see Osiris better.

Harry could barely see Albus' eyes since his head was bowed to watch Osiris, but his body language alone was uncomfortable. The more they talked about this "Nundu Incident", the more uneasy Harry grew. His son seemed unwilling to discuss it, same with Scorpius, so it was unlikely he'd learn anything more out of them. Draco seemed silently baffled by the conversation as well, so he would be no help. Harry remembered they mentioned Charlie had gone as well, so Harry could always ask him. Maybe Albus had written about Africa in his letters? It seemed the only way he'd get any information on it.

What was it Albus said before? The African Ministry had written about Albus and Scorpius helping with the Nundu? That meant there was documentation about it, so as a last resort, he could just pull some strings at the ministry with Hermione and bring up some of the other ministries papers. Anything to figure out why Albus was so uncomfortable and upset. Without starting another fight, that is.

With the conversation slowly moving away from the topic of Africa, the mood started to get brighter again, and Albus was smiling again, bouncing Osiris a little on his lap as the six month old waved his toy and looked around at the table, finding Harry with his eyes after a moment and just staring at him. Harry watched the baby from the corner of his eyes as he continued to enjoy his coffee, listening to his children pass stories about their work.

Harry knew plenty of what James and Lily had been doing, since they were still close to home and visited often, but it was definitely interesting to hear about Albus' work. Harry never had a remarkable interest in magical animals. He knew enough from Hagrid, and he definitely tried to do well in his class, if only because he didn't want to disappoint his oldest friend, but he definitely didn't know a lot of what Albus talked about.

Some things he knew about because of Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, like Doxy's and Cornish Pixies, which were discussed because of their danger and mischief, and Snidget's because of his history and interest with Quidditch and its long standing traditions, but he had absolutely no idea what a Fire Crab was, and he certainly didn't know what the hell a Nundu was. A leopard as big as a house? Clearly Lily knew what it was, maybe he could ask her later.

"Just wait till he reaches his magic years," Ginny said with a smile, somehow the conversation had swung back around to Osiris, "You were a menace, Albus dear. Set everything on fire."

"I did?" Albus gaped at her, and she chuckled.

"You seemed fascinated by it. We had James watch you for a bit while we went out for something and came back to him with his eyebrows singed off."

"Is that what happened?" James asked, "I can't remember that day very well."

"My bad," Albus apologized halfheartedly, looking down when Osiris started to wiggle, noting he was leaning forward reaching for Harry, "Dad, you wanna hold him?" Harry looked over at him finally, then down at Osiris, feeling somewhat confused that the infant was reaching for him.

"Oh, uh-."

"I'll hold him!" James said, and Albus narrowed his eyes at him as Harry slowly set his cup down, pushing his seat out and leaning back to see Osiris better.

"Suppose I'll be holding him eventually," he said, turning in his seat to face Albus as he passed Osiris over to him, situating him in his grasp and cradling him against his chest as Osiris quickly took to him, giggling and trying to grab his glasses, "Seems like a normal baby. Trying to get my glasses like every kid I've held."

"Dad don't compare my kid to every kid you've ever held," Albus chided, "Osiris is clearly special."

Harry just watched Albus as Osiris pulled the glasses off his face, only partly grateful his vision was blurred as his son leaned forward in laughter that echoed around the table. He could even hear Draco chuckling seemingly under his breath. It was nice, nostalgic, like he was holding one of his children again. Like he was holding Albus again.

For a while he'd been avoiding holding Osiris, or even looking at him, maybe out of stubbornness, because he was still mad at Albus for lying and not telling him the boy even existed, but it wasn't like this baby was at fault in anything. He was so small, he barely had a personality, so young, and even though he just stole Harry's glasses, he was starting to like him.

Osiris was his grandson after all. Continuing the line of Potter, and maybe even more importantly than that, the Malfoy family. Lucius, Draco, and Scorpius were the only blood Malfoy's left. Draco had expressed countless times he didn't care about the Malfoy line continuing, but being the last of your family was a lonely curse. The Malfoy fortune wasn't what was important. What mattered was that Draco wasn't alone.

The marriage between Albus and Scorpius connected the Malfoy and Potter families, made both families bigger, stronger, and frankly it gave Draco a better family than he had before. Not to mention that if Lucius found out about it, odds are he would be absolutely mortified and pissed off. Which was an amusing thought on its own. Harry got the feeling Draco felt the same way.

As fun as it would be to watch Lucius have an aneurysm over his grandson marrying a Potter and mingling his pure-blood with half-bloods, Harry had to remember what Albus said about wanting to keep their marriage under wraps for now, avoid the publicity that came with the territory of being a Potter or a Malfoy. Harry had to silently agree with the decision.

If people were still spreading the rumor that Scorpius was the son of Voldermort, and harassing Albus about not being a good enough Potter because he didn't seem as powerful as his father, then he couldn't even imagine the pressure that could be put on Osiris for just existing. That alone was a scary thought.

"What are you planning to do about his education?" Harry asked, looking back at Albus, who was standing and stacking the dirty plates, pausing to look at Harry.

"Dad he's six months old," he said, "He won't be turning eleven over night."

"What I mean is, with the work you're doing, you're not very close to Hogwarts," Harry clarified, watching Albus and Ginny bring the dishes to the sink, "and you mentioned traveling a lot. Do you plan on taking him with you?"

"Like I said, dad, he's not even a year old yet," Albus turned and leaned back against the counter, folding his arms.

"We haven't talked about schooling much," Scorpius offered, "We can homeschool him for the most part, Al and I are perfectly capable of that. Not sure what we'll do when he's old enough for Hogwarts," he was frowning, and Harry looked over at Albus to see he was as well, staring at the floor.

"I suppose it's a decision of what to focus on, your work or his education."

"Why decide one or the other?" Albus asked, one eyebrow arched up as he looked at Harry, "Again, he's six months old. We've got time to decide what to do."

"It's not unheard of that some wizards are homeschooled the entire time," Ginny offered, "Some families would rather not send their children away for a good portion of the year to a boarding school. Still, if you can afford to send him to Hogwarts, you should definitely consider it. If you need help at all-."

"What if we decide not to send him to Hogwarts?" Albus asked, and the room hushed.

"Why wouldn't you?" James asked, and Albus shrugged.

"Hypothetically speaking, what if we didn't want to send him to Hogwarts, for whatever reason."

"There are other schools," Draco added in, "Depending on where your work takes you, there may be a Wizarding school nearby, or maybe a different school will want to take him in. I don't think it's too unheard of that more than one school would want a young witch or wizard to attend."

"That's true," Ginny said, holding her chin, "Bill and Fleur had to decide where to send the kids when they were old enough, since Bill graduated from Hogwarts and Fleur from Beauxbatons."

"The Malfoy's moved to England from France, so there's a chance he'll get a letter from Beauxbatons," Draco offered, and Scorpius looked at Albus.

"I don't know..."

"Well, it's pointless to worry about it right now," Ginny waved both hands up, "Tomorrow's Christmas, so let's spend the day getting ready."

"I still have stuff I need to wrap!" Lily jerked to her feet, eyes wide, "Albus do you have wrapping paper?!"

Albus pointed at the tree, "Lils we wrap presents with newspaper."

"That's dumb," Lily decided, "Where's the closest town, I'm getting wrapping paper."

"I'd like to pick up a few things as well," Ginny said, and Scorpius stood up.

"I can take you there if you like?"

"And get distracted when you pass the clinic? I don't think so," Albus scoffed, and Scorpius frowned at him.

"When has that happened?"

"Do you mean every time we need to shop?"

"I'll show them," Draco decided, standing and bringing his empty coffee mug to the sink, "I don't mind, and you should probably stay with Osiris anyway."

Scorpius looked over at where Osiris was sitting on Harry's lap, smiling softly, "I guess you're right."

"You're a workaholic anyway, you need a real holiday," Albus teased, and Scorpius turned to glare at him.

"As if you're one to talk?"

"You're both workaholics," Draco scolded, "No idea where Scorpius gets it."

"Calling yourself lazy?" Albus asked, and Harry squinted.

"Calling me a workaholic?"

"Yes, and yes."

Ginny chuckled into the back of her hand and turned away when Harry squinted at her, clearing her throat, "Lily sweetheart go get dressed, we'll head out when you're ready."

"I can cook while you guys are out," James offered, standing up, "Help me out, dad."

"You don't have to cook anything, you're the guests here," Scorpius argued, pushing his seat in as Harry stood up.

"Don't worry about it, I like cooking!" James assured, and Scorpius took Osiris from Harry with a frown.

"Well, I guess you could help," he decided, cradling Osiris against his chest, "Albus isn't one for cooking, so it would probably go faster if three of us cook, considering there are so many of us this year."

"Nice!" James stepped away from the table, "So what's the dinner plan for tonight and tomorrow? How do we do Christmas?"

"Mum and I, and Mister Malfoy, can pick up stuff we might need at the nearby town," Lily offered, "Not just wrapping paper. Do we need to pick up any food or drinks?"

"I don't think so," Albus leaned over and opened the fridge to look inside, "We picked up what we needed before you all showed up. The hard part is cooking it."

"The hard part for you," James defended, "I can cook just fine."

"Congratulations, James," Albus muttered, turning to meet Scorpius as he walked up to him, reaching out to take Osiris from him.

"Don't feel too bad, you're good at other stuff," he assured, petting back Osiris' hair as the baby clung to Albus, waving one fist towards James as if in greeting, "While dad, Lily, and your mom are in town, James, your dad and I can start cooking, and you can watch your son."

Albus looked down at Osiris, who was looking up at him, one of the stuffed dragon feet in his mouth, "You wanna hang out with me?" Osiris made a gurgling sound, and Albus looked back at Scorpius, "I don't have any idea what he just said."

"He said yes," Scorpius decided, leaning closer to kiss Osiris' cheek, "I'm sure you can keep him distracted till nap-time."

"I guess I could try," Albus agreed, "Suppose there's a lot of paperwork I could organize upstairs."

"I thought you didn't like Osiris messing with your monsters," James said, and Albus turned to him.

"Not really, but I have everything caged up for now," Albus explained, "I have a few Puffskein's up there that could entertain him, but I'm not foolish enough to let him go poking his fingers through cage bars. Especially considering some of the creatures up there."

"What do you have up there anyway?" James asked, and Albus shrugged.

"Some magical birds, some poisonous creatures, a lot of birds actually," Albus turned towards the stairs, "Don't go up there, James."

"I never said I would."

"I've known you my whole life, I know when you want to do something stupid."

"So that's really rude."

"Stay out of the attic, James."

"What are you, my dad?"

"James," Harry chided, "Stay out of the attic."

".... fine," James muttered under his breath, "Now I've got two dads, that's great..."

Scorpius went up to the attic just before lunch to get Albus, who was standing at the table with Osiris propped against his hip, wand stuck behind his ear and leaning over the table to sift through papers on the desk. Osiris was reaching out for the Fwooper, who was sitting on a perch secured in the wall just above his head.

"What are you working on?"

"Just organizing," Albus answered, "I was thinking about what dad said... about Hogwarts."

Scorpius shut the gate and walked further into the room, "What about it?"

"School, for us at least, was a hell-scape," Albus said simply, pulling the wand from behind his ear and dropping it onto the desk, standing straighter and reaching over to pull the blanket higher over Osiris, "I was the Slytherin Squib for seven years, the hero Harry Potter's false son, and you were harassed for being someone you weren't because of a stupid rumor, because the newspaper figured letting you take the fall as a scape goat was a better option than telling the truth about Delphini Riddle."

Scorpius leaned against the table and folded his arms, "It wasn't that bad."

"You're going to stand there and tell me every day was a picnic?" Albus asked, and Scorpius looked down.

"I won't say that. Whenever I think about Hogwarts I think about how a pair of Ravenclaw's stole my notes and stained them in ink so I couldn't study. How a whole group of them shredded my textbooks in fifth year. Remember you found me crying in the library trying to fix them?"

Albus exhaled slowly through his nose, nodding his head, "Trying to fix them with a charm, but you couldn't get the spell out because you were crying so hard. You were scared your dad would be mad at you for letting your books get destroyed."

"Yea," Scorpius laughed breathlessly, chin to his chest, "The same year, you remember? Somehow things got pretty back after Delphini, things got worse. Fifth year, a whole group of Gryffindors cornered me, locked me in a broom closet and took my wand so I was stuck there for hours till Filch found me."

"I remember that, but I didn't know Gryffindors did it," Albus said, looking at Scorpius, "I remember looking all over the school for you, missing classes because you weren't there and I was worried sick."

"Yea," Scorpius scratched his neck, "I figured if you knew Gryffindors did it you'd just go at James, or that the relationship with him would get worse because of his house. He, Lily, Rose, Hugo, were all in Gryffindor. I didn't want your relationship with them to break down just because some of their house mates were cruel to me."

"They locked you in a closet, Scorpius," Albus said, "Do you know their names?"

"Of course I know their names, Al, but I'm not telling you. Graduated or not, I know how you are."

"Were they from James' year?"

"I'm not telling you," Scorpius turned to him, "When I think of Hogwarts I think of Gryffindor's shoving me in lockers, Ravenclaw's destroying my textbooks and my notes, Hufflepuff's tripping me in the halls and sending me to Madam Pomfrey because I sprained my wrist," he smiled, "but I also think about Professor Longbottom giving me books from his own library because I was working at a more advanced level than most people our year. I think about being invited for tea with Hagrid when you and James went there. You know, I think about how good it felt when I cast a hard spell, and how fun it was to learn all these new things, to finish a potion the right way."

Scorpius reached out, running the backs of his fingers down Osiris' cheek, smiling, "But you know... I think what I remember most about Hogwarts is you. Meeting you that first day on the train, how you stayed with me despite what people said about me. How you stayed with me despite everything. You became my best friend, and you're still my best friend, Albus. Hogwarts was awful, but it's where I met you, so I think, all things considered, the time I spent there was worth it. I mean, look," he took Osiris from Albus, "Hogwarts is why we have Osiris."

"Maybe," Albus muttered, reaching out to pinch Osiris' chin, "But all the suffering... all of what you went through, you especially... can we risk putting him through it?"

Scorpius shook his head slowly, "I couldn't do it, not willingly... but we don't know if he'll end up in the same situation as us. What if he has a really good school experience? Makes friends? We don't know what'll happen. It's his life."

Albus nodded slowly, turning back to the table and spreading the papers out, tapping his fingers against the folders and reaching up to the Fwooper, "I guess you're right... still don't like it... but... maybe I'm just protective."

"You have a right to be, Albus. Just remember he might not have the same experiences as us."

"We have time to figure out what to do," Albus coaxed the Fwooper into perching on his arm, carrying it over to the cage, "Homeschooling, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, or whatever. There's no telling what will happen eleven years from now," he shut the cage and walked back over to Scorpius, reaching out to settle his arms across Scorpius' shoulders, leaning their foreheads together, "At this point the only thing I'm sure of is that I love you... and Osiris... and that marrying you was probably the best decision of my life. I'm not so sure about anything else, but that much is enough."

Scorpius just laughed, a laugh that had his eyes closing and his cheeks going red in glee, his laughter contagious as Osiris started to squirm and giggle. Albus pulled both of them closer, pressing his lips to Scorpius' forehead before turning his head to lie it on top of his husbands.

"I'm glad you made up with your father," Scorpius said.

"For the most part I think," Albus agreed, "He seemed hesitant about holding Osiris."

"Well, give him some time," Scorpius hugged Osiris tighter, squeezed comfortably between himself and Albus, still giggling in delight, "No one can resist his charm for too long," Albus laughed softly at that, but didn't try to separate from Scorpius, who seemed comfortable enough where he was.

"You close the door?"

"Yea."

"Dad broke it earlier. Heard me walking up here and thought I was some dark wizard breaking in."

"Sounds exciting. It's fixed now, he even replaced the lock charm."

"I'll have to replace the additional identification charm, I don't want just anyone alohamora-ing themselves inside."

"Think James would really try to get up here?"

"You've met him, right?" Scorpius snickered against his shoulder, "Done cooking down there?"

"Yea," Scorpius answered, finally pulling back and looking at Albus, "James bugged me about Africa for a while, trying to figure out what we were talking about, regarding the Nundu, but I didn't say anything. Your dad didn't say much about it. Either he didn't think it was worth asking, or doesn't care. Though, I'm willing to assume he does care, and just doesn't want to push us about it."

"They don't need to know," Albus said, reaching up to rub his shoulder instinctively, "If they ask again, we had to hunt down a carnivorous African cat, the end."

"There's a possibility they'll find out through newspapers, or even from Charlie or Rolf," Scorpius warned, and Albus shrugged.

"Then they can find out that way, I don't want to be forced into talking about it."

"I know," Scorpius assured, reaching a hand up to Albus' face, "Come on, let's go eat lunch, then put Osiris down for a nap. We'll figure out something else to talk about."

"Hope we think of enough topics to last the rest of the time they're here. I'll talk about anything so long as it's not about Africa."


End file.
